Tale of the Warden
by Vera Auditore
Summary: After being exiled from the Tower - her home for almost 18 years - Aria Amell realizes the world is not at all how she thought it would be. As she journeys with her companions to unite the lands against the blight, Aria discovers that some things are not what they seem. Rating will be 'M' due to future chapters. R&R!
1. The Harrowing

_"Magic is meant to serve man and never rule over him."_

_"Keep your wits about you and remember the fade is a realm of dreams. The spirits may rule it, but your own will is real"_

Searing white hot pain thundered violently through my entire being, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. I opened my eyes to a world that seemed real - in a way, I suppose, it was – but it was not my reality. I took a deep breath, _keep your wits about you and remember the fade is a realm of dreams_; these words anchored me to my world, to my 'self'.

Consciously traversing the fade was easy; such was the boon of having magic. It was simple enough for me take control of my dreams and converse with the spirits of the Fade, and I've spent many nights in the company of spirits such as Wisdom, Honor, Compassion, Faith and more recently the spirit of Love. Though tonight, I was not here to see my friends - that would have to come later. Tonight, I was here under the orders of Knight-Commander Greagoir and First Enchanter Irving. I had to confront and vanquish a demon or die.

Tonight, I undertook my Harrowing.

Eighteen years of trying to prove to the Templars that I was not a weak mage, that I would not fall to a demon and become an abomination; eighteen years of denying myself any semblance of a life to hinder the Fade's temptations, for what? To have the Templars disregard those eighteen years and 'test my resolve'. Maker, I hated them.

I looked up at the sky. Black clouds hovered on the outskirts of a bleak sky. Strange islands floated in the distance; world that belonged to other dreamers. The centremost point of the sky flashed a brilliant yellow so bright I was forced to shield my eyes. The islands had gone and the sky had become pastel green. The silhouette of The Black City sat in the distance, very near yet deceptively far away.

I looked around at this part of the Fade: the terrain was barren and lifeless; scarred from years of battle. A broken Tevinter tower blocked my way back and twisted, gnarled trees wrapped around broken stone pillars, forming a path further in. I did not pretend to be unafraid, in truth I was terrified. This place belonged to the demon. This was not _my _Fade.

My magic pulsed erratically within my chest, this place made me feel strange. My magic felt much stronger making it harder to contain. My hands were shaking as I walked along the stone pillar path, my magic floated between my fingers. Two wisp wraiths floated out from behind the stone pillars, shooting small bolts of lightning at me. The zap was weak but it was all I needed to remind myself that yes, I was terrified but I was ready for this and I would be fine. I weaved my magic into an arcane bolt and threw it at the wraiths. They fizzled out and I looked at my hands - magic was still seeping from my fingertips, pooling in the palm of my hand and I panicked. This much exposed magic would draw the attention of every Fade entity. I clasped my hands together and desperately tried to draw my magic back.

The path narrowed into a small valley. The hills on either side of me were yellowed and dead, whatever battle took place here must have been violent. I made a mental note to ask Wisdom and Honor about it later on. My magic was still seeping from my fingertips. More Wisp wraiths appeared, pelting small bolts of lightning at me. I weaved arcane bolts in my hands, trying to use as little magic as possible. The Wisp wraiths exploded with fiery splendor and I winced. The further I was in the Fade, the stronger my magic was. I exhaled a groan and moved on.

The Fade shifted slightly and I found myself at the top of a hill. The path behind me had disappeared, replaced by a tall, disturbing looking statue. It stood straight holding two giant swords – one long sword and the other looked more like a cleaver or axe. A helmet covered most of its face but I could sort of see its features. Eyebrows furrowed deeply, lips pressed into a hard line with the corners of the mouth angled downward ever so slightly, and its eyes: cold and stern. It almost looked like Knight-Commander Greagoir.

"You were once so kind to me," I couldn't help but frown at the statue; "What did I do to earn your disdain?"

I turned my attention from the overbearing statue. A large open field sat not far from me; I figured it was as good a place as any to force the confrontation as there was plenty of lyrium veins to draw on. I walked down the side of the hill and continued along a linear path towards the open field, imagining combat scenarios for each potential demon. Desire – focus on heartbeat and the sound of mana manifesting as magic and do not think about anything beyond the battle; Sloth – think active thoughts and stay away, cannot be touched; Pride...

"Hey, watch it!" I recoiled my foot and fell onto my backside. A tiny black mouse stared at me from behind my foot.

"Wha..." I was surprised by the rodent's sudden appearance. I stood up and dusted myself off, the Fade may not have been real but pain certainly was. The mouse turned its head from side to side examining me.

"Someone else thrown to the wolves, as fresh and unprepared as ever." The small mouse stood on its hind legs clearly upset that I was there, "It isn't right that they do this, the templars. Not to you, me, anyone!"

"Right or wrong, it's done." I folded my arms over my chest and tried to walk past the mouse. He was wasting my time.

The small mouse morphed into a blonde man and sighed, stretching his fingers across his face to rub both temples at the same time. I stepped back and called forth an arcane bolt, I'd never seen that ability before and I was not planning to find out of the mouse was really a demon. The man held his hands up in surrender and cowered before me, begging me to not hurt him.

"Allow me to welcome you to the Fade. You can call me... Well, Mouse." I nodded at him but kept silent, the less he knew of me the better my chances were of staying alive. "It's not your fault. You're in the same boat I was, aren't you?"

I kept my arcane bolt at the ready as Mouse told me about his Harrowing, what he could remember of it at least. I had heard of apprentices that failed their Harrowing and had been killed by the Templars. Mouse was such a one it seemed – he took too long and they slit his throat. I asked him what his name was and how long it had been since his Harrowing and he faltered; he could not remember.

He made a comment that caught my attention; Mouse had no body to reclaim, but he thought I stood a chance and wanted to help. We stared at one another for a moment; he was no doubt waiting for a response, whereas I was trying to recall his face. He looked too old to be an apprentice, though perhaps he was sent to the Circle later in life. His eyes were a brilliant forest green – bright and alluring – I had never seen anyone at the Circle with eyes like that. Perhaps they were a side effect of being in the Fade for so long.

"There's something here, contained, just for an apprentice like you. You have to face the creature, a demon, and resist it, if you can." I noticed Mouse's tone was sharp and his was slightly curled.

"I have no intentions of failing," I was intrigued that Mouse had such an insight on the Harrowing, yet knew so little of his life. I released the arcane bolt I had been weaving, if he had wanted to kill me, surely he would have done so by now.

"I'll follow, if that's all right. My chance was long ago, but you... You may have a way out." Before I could respond, Mouse reverted to his rodent form. I reminded myself that he was a being of the Fade, and there was a demon lurking about. I quietly chided myself for letting my guard down; I could trust in nothing but myself here.

I stepped past Mouse and made my way towards the open field. Mouse scurried along behind me, complaining that I move too quickly. I wanted to tell him that he would be able to keep up if he were in his human form, but decided against it. Talking to him any further could be dangerous. Mouse told me of other apprentices he had seen over the years, though had never helped any of them. He recounted the demise of three apprentices in particular: the first agreed to help his demon enter the human world, the second was arrogant, underestimating his foe and died to the demon; the third gave up and chose to be rid of the Fade entirely, not wanting to engage his demon and being terrified of possession. I tried to ignore Mouse as he told me about the third apprentice, but he had my full attention when he called the apprentice Owain.

I felt curiosity bubble in my belly. I wanted to know about Owain's Harrowing. He had controlled the stock room for as long as I could remember and I never even considered the fact that he once had magic. I opened my mouth to ask but quickly shut it, realising that Mouse could be baiting me. I focused on the mana swirling around in my chest, it thrummed and jingled softly.

Mouse continued to speak, giving vague details of the other apprentices. I hastily weaved an arcane bolt and threw it at Mouse. He panicked and leaped out of the way. The arcane bolt hit a Wisp wraith that floated out of the ground. I glared at Mouse, curling my lips upwards and scrunching my nose. Mouse took the hint and went quiet.

I stood before the open field. The sky was a mix of gray and red – a stark contrast against the green. My heart beat frantically. My magic crashed powerfully against my chest, flowing hotly through my veins. My fingers pulsed painfully with magic and I felt overwhelmingly angry: at the Templars for imprisoning me in the tower, at Knight-Commander Greagoir for not being fast enough or strong enough, at my family, at myself.

I remembered feeling such intense emotions before. I was younger and had not yet joined the Circle. I dismissed the memories threatening to surface, pushing them deep within myself. The demon was already waiting for me in the field. It took everything within me to turn away and continue along the path. Suddenly, I felt severely unprepared and vulnerable.

Mouse squeaked and scurried between my feet, hurrying towards giant curled tentacles that fenced off a camp. I lingered on the path; if something happened to Mouse then I'd know to run. He scurried back to me barely containing his excitement. The camp was full of weapons – staffs – and the camp was unattended. That was all I needed to hear. I jogged up to the camp and looked around, it was indeed empty. The fire pit was extinguished but I could feel the warmth radiating from the embers. Mouse whistled at the many, _many_ rows of weapons: long swords, daggers, claymores, shields, staffs, bows, arrows, spears, halberds – every weapon I'd ever read about, and a lot that I had not were hanging on the weapon racks semi materialised. I couldn't help but wonder who had created them; surely each mage was sent to a different part of the Fade for their Harrowing.

"Another mortal thrown into the flame and left to burn, I see." The booming voice echoed behind me. Panicking I summoned a fireball in one hand and sustained my arcane shield in the other, praying the sight of a mage with such control over magic would scare off the demon. Instead I was faced with a spirit that bore a remarkable resemblance to a Templar. The spirit flicked its hand dismissively and my spells dissipated. I tried to call them forth again but the spirit had quashed my mana; "Your mages have devised a cowardly test. Better you were pitted against each other to prove your mettle with skill, than to be sent unarmed against a demon."

I watched, stunned as the spirit walked over to the fire and alternated between holding its gauntleted hands over the newly ignited flames then rubbing them together. I walked towards him with great trepidation; some spirits could be as dangerous as demons when they wanted to be.

"What are you, spirit?" I kept my distance and copied the spirits actions. My magic swam around happily in my chest, uninterested in the spirit.

"I am Valor; a warrior spirit." He held his right arm over his chest and bowed. A Templar action.

"Why are you in the form of a Templar?" the question was out my mouth before I could stop myself from asking.

"I am as you see me," Valor shook out his hands; "if I am a Templar, it is because you decided such."

I conceded its point. Spirits and demons have no physical shape, often manifesting in familiar forms to reduce hostility or fear. I turned my attention to the rest of Valor's camp; "Did you make all of these weapons?"

Valor's weapon collection was impressive. The camp was lined with weapon racks. As soon as a weapon rack was full, it floated into the sky making room for another weapon rack to materialise.

"They are brought into being by my will. I understand that in your world, mages are the only ones who can will things into being." I nodded in appreciation as he held his gauntleted hands out, a magnificent staff materialised. Simple and practical in design - a quarter of the staff was split in two, the split pieces of wood circling around and secured a focus crystal in the center. Valor handed me the staff and it solidified at my touch. The magic that was dripping from my hands was absorbed into the staff, charging the focus crystal and I felt a strange sensation. I felt complete.

"Would I be able to borrow the staff?" I thought back to passing the field. Judging from how I felt, the demon was one of rage. "I am to fight a demon."

"I have seen other apprentices lose to their demon. I will give one to you... If you agree to duel me first. I will test your mettle as it should be tested and if you fall, I will give you a warrior's death."

First Enchanter Irving's words floated into my mind: _Keep your wits about you..._ I looked down at the staff then at the spirit.

"It would seem that you wish to kill me yourself." _I am the only real thing here, the Fade is the test!_ I steeled myself; "Or perhaps you are in league with the demon. Weaken me first so he has the easier kill."

"How dare you accuse me!" the spirit of Valor scoffed in annoyance and anger, "I am no demon, preying upon helpless mortals to steal their essence! I am a being of honor and valor! I am a warrior!" He unsheathed his sword and readied his shield.

I twirled the staff around a few times to get used to the weight. It was perfectly balanced and my magic flowed easily to the focus crystal, it felt like an extension of my arm; not even my normal staff felt like that. I bent my knees slightly in anticipation, I needed this to be fast. I would never admit it but Mouse's demise startled me, I was taking too long.

Mouse morphed into his human form and pleaded with Valor to let us move on. That the demon needed to die and only a mortal mage could defeat it here. I nodded in agreement, taking a more relaxed stance to show I was no threat. Valor considered the plea.

"Very well. The mage's desire to eliminate the demon is indeed brave." Valor sheathed his sword; "I will bear witness to your deeds mortal and should you fall, I will give you an honourable death."

Mouse, Valor and I returned to the main path. Mouse suggested that we continue along as he felt the presence of another being that could be of use. Valor disagreed, he felt the presence of another demon and was eager to see the battle between the demon and I but Mouse had already scurried away.

As we rounded a corner, I saw a slumbering blighted bear. Valor grabbed my bicep firmly as Mouse approached the demon. Valor whispered for me to keep my distance, the bear was a demon of sloth. The demon woke up and ordered them to leave before it decided to kill it. Valor pulled me away arguing that there was nothing gallant about unnecessarily starting fights with demons. I could not agree with him more.

Mouse however, asked the demon if it would teach him to be a bear, offering the demon whatever it wanted in exchange. The demon looked at me and I felt dirty, I knew what it would ask for. I turned on my heel and left with Valor, unwilling to entertain the bargain. Mouse was very vocal about becoming a bear; he tried to convince me that he would be of more use with that knowledge. Valor demanded Mouse become gutsier and earn the skill himself.

The open field was silent; I felt the rage bubbling beneath my skin waiting to be free. Valor stood to the side and Mouse hid behind a lyrium vein. I pulled the staff from my back and gripped it tightly. My heart grew disquiet; I acknowledged the fear, without it I would not know courage. Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths exhaling slowly to calm my heart. My magic flowed into the staff filling the focus crystal with my rage and hatred. The focus crystal glowed a deep crimson.

A wave of calmness washed over me and my magic consumed my soul, hiding it in the depths of my being - my only defence against possession. I was ready to face the demon. I touched the tip of the staff to the ground. The focus crystal released a powerful blast of negativity across the field. At first nothing happened, Valor scuffed his boot against the ground and looked at me. I tapped my right index finger against my nose and the ground shook. Lava spewed into the air and molten arms tore the ground asunder. A guttural roar ripped through the air as the rage demon pulled its body free from the earth. Valor recoiled at the sight of the demon but regained his composure quickly enough, giving me a subtle nod.

I glared at the demon. I was proficient in the schools of spirit and creation magic thus had little knowledge of the primal magic school. I found myself silently thanking the Maker that Irving felt it necessary for every mage practicing creation to know the basic of ice skills - applying a gentle winter's grasp to a swollen brain could lessen damage and reduce any further swelling.

I spun the staff to get a better grip and conjured a winter's grasp in my left hand, throwing it at the demon. The demon held out its arm to block the spell but was too late; it froze. I ran up to the demon and holding the staff in both hands, I whacked the demon as hard as I could with the staff. The demon shattered and melted back into the ground.

"Well, that wasn't so hard." I walked over to Valor and leaned on my staff, placing my free hand on my hip.

"It is not yet defeated" Valor folded his arms and nodded at the field.

Six Wisp wraiths floated up from the ground, drawn to the magic. I weaved an arcane bolt and moved along the outskirts, waiting for the perfect moment. The wraiths shot small bursts of lightning at me; I spun out of the way and released the arcane bolt. Two wraiths fizzled and died. The other four managed to dodge the blow. I pointed the staff at them letting the focus crystal call forth another arcane bolt. The focus crystal charged a ball of light at the tip of the staff. The wraiths stopped casting lightning spells and floated towards the luminescent ball. When they were close, the staff released the luminescent ball at the wraiths. The ball expanded exponentially, absorbing the wraiths and drawing their power back into the staff.

I walked over to a lyrium vein and slammed the base of my staff into it, using the staff as a filter for the raw mana entering my body. The rage demon reappeared from beneath the ground several feet from me. Mouse squeaked and shifted further behind the lyrium vein but the demon still noticed him.

"Ah, so you are here." The demon slithered closer to Mouse, his voice thick and low; "Will you feast on this mage with me?" I grit my teeth and ripped the staff free from the lyrium vein.

"This one isn't like the others. She works with spirits. Valor gave her the staff." Mouse warned, scurrying away from the field. The rage demon laughed, his voice effervesced from the lava. I bent my knees and readied for battle, summoning the strongest ice spell I could. A sour taste flooded my mouth, Mouse betrayed me so quickly. I couldn't help but wonder how many apprentices had been tricked by Mouse.

The rage demon turned to me, even though his face was distorted by the lava, I knew he felt my anger towards Mouse. He goaded me, telling me - in great detail - of other apprentices he had killed. How Mouse led them to him and to the Sloth demon like lambs to the slaughter. He slithered closer to me, describing what he would do once he had possessed me. I couldn't move, animosity festering within me forced me to listen. He manipulated my thoughts: the Templars waited by my body, a dagger to my throat. If he didn't kill me, they would.

I closed my eyes as he spoke and visualised my magic floating in my chest. The heat radiating from the demon was nightmarish. I felt my skin burning as the demon slithered ever closer. It took everything I had to subtly cast a winter's grasp on myself. The demon spoke again, offering me a chance to join with him as a willing host. Its voice was almost genuine. I scoffed and looked at Valor, he had unsheathed his sword and watched us intently, waiting for the possession. At least I would die honourably and be spared the humiliation of becoming an abomination.

The rage demon played on my anger, offering to exact revenge on the Templars for their mistreatment of mages, promising to destroy the Chantry for locking me up like a criminal and denying me a life. He promised me power enough to be free of them forever, all I had to do was let him in; let him feed on my anger, my hate. Let him become me.

I looked at the demon, searching for its eyes. Two gaping black holes watched me waiting for my answer. I cringed; lowering my staff to rest against the ground. A glyph of paralysis flared and the lava stopped flowing. The demon was frozen again. I forced all my negativity into the focus crystal and willed myself to move away. Using my negative energy, I cast a crushing prison around the demon. It roared in pain as the prison shrank around him. He spat flames at me, burning my robes. I screamed and cast a winter's grasp on my robes to douse the flames. When I looked back at the demon, it was little more than floating goo.

The demon melted into the ground once again, exposing a portal in its wake. Through the portal I could see my body lying on the ground protected by an arcane shield. Cullen knelt beside me, his dagger poised over my heart. His expression was wracked with pain. Greagoir and Irving were arguing. I was almost out of time. Valor stood beside me, looking at the scene. We turned around to see that Mouse had morphed back into a person.

"I can't believe it, you actually -" I cut him off, swinging my staff low, knocking his legs out from beneath him. He gasped sharply as I slammed my staff into his chest, breaking several ribs.

I pulled the staff from Mouse's chest and he lay there, laughing. The residual rage left behind from the demon reverberated through me. If I wasn't so angry I might've thought to ask Mouse what was so funny. I snarled at him and raised my staff to hit him again; Valor ripped me out of the way, pushing me behind him. He had his sword and shield at the ready.

"He is a demon of pride! Leave!" Valor commanded, standing between mouse and I. I stepped towards the portal still clutching his staff, "Betrayal is not the path of the courageous!"

Mouse stood up and laughed maliciously - his voice deep and dark; no longer meek. Valor charged towards Mouse, shield high and sword low ready to swing upwards. Without thinking I cast a protective aura around Valor and enchanted his weapons. Through the portal I could see Knight Commander Greagoir holding First Enchanter Irving by the collar, his fist coiled back. I looked at the staff I'd obtained for Valor and the thought of leaving it behind made me feel lonely. Mouse was engulfed in a bright light and Valor demanded – his voice sounding almost panicked – that I leave before he showed his true form.

I looked at the staff then back at the portal. Leaving Valor to fight the demon was not honorable or gallant but I was no match for a pride demon. Seeing no other choice beyond fight or flight, I hugged the staff to my chest. The staff burst into a blinding light and vanished, I looked back at Valor praying to the Maker that he would be ok as I walked into the portal.

Mouse swatted Valor's shield aside and plunged his hand into his chest. I shrieked, a gut wrenching cry, as they faded from view.

I was violently shaken awake. My eyes snapped open; my magic appeared unshaped in the palm of my hand, ready to strike. Someone gasped and staggered backwards, their hands raised to their head in surrender. I stared at them, still recovering from the Harrowing. I blinked a few times opening my eyes wide and took in my surroundings: _Headache, alive, bed, mages robes, stone walls..._"Jowan?"

My throat was dry and my tongue felt like sticky sandpaper. Jowan breathed a sigh of relief when I dropped my hand and sat up, one arm draped around my bedpost and the other cradling my head.

"Thank the Maker you're alright!" Jowan fell onto the bed roughly, the force of his fall rocked the mattress and I groaned, hugging myself to the bedpost. I was in a state of pandemonium - my skull felt like it was splitting in two as the remnants of the lyrium chimed loudly, ripping through my brain. Flashes of light exploded behind my eyes, my body felt like it was being undone at the seams and my soul felt strange like I was halfway between my body and the Fade. Every movement, every breath, every thought felt shadowed. I felt nauseous.

"They took you for your Harrowing last night, right? What was it like?" Jowan shifted closer, his voice sounded muffled and distant.

"I..." _It is a secret out of necessity_. "I don't remember." I lied.

"How could you not remember?" Jowan grabbed my wrist and wrenched me around to look at him. I swayed slightly as three Jowan's appeared before me. My stomach lurched and I grabbed onto the bedpost wondering what was wrong with me. "Please think. What do you remember?"

I pulled my leg up to my chest and rested my forehead on my knees. Trying to think was getting difficult, my mind felt sluggish. I gently massaged my temples, releasing tiny bursts of healing magic to clear the muddy fog; "I ... can't..."

"I know you aren't meant to tell anyone about it, but we're friends!" Cutting me off Jowan grasped my shoulder, digging his fingernails in slightly. I dropped my shoulder and his grip tightened; "You can tell me."

"Jowan, I don't remember." I said sharply. I rolled my shoulder to loosen his grip and stood up. The muscles in my back vibrated and contracted painfully, and my stomach felt like hundreds of butterflies pelted the walls of my stomach at once. I doubled over, and inhaled sharply. Sharp, stabbing waves of freezing, hot pain shot through me. I swooned and Jowan leapt off the bed to catch me just in time. I caught sight of Cullen lingering by the door; I tried to smile at him though it probably came across as a grimace since he disappeared from view looking rather perturbed.

"I was to let you know that the First Enchanter wanted to see you when you woke." Jowan held his hands out, his face a mix of concern and resentment. I waved my hand dismissively and leaving Jowan behind, I hobbled towards the Mages' floor.

The steps leading to the next floor were few but took an eternity to climb in my state. I pushed the heavy oak door with all my might, it scraped loudly against the ground alerting the Templar on guard. He walked over and grabbed the metal handle, ripping the door open. I tumbled into the second floor lobby-slash-storeroom, falling onto my hands and knees. The Templar laughed and remarked about how appropriate the position was for me. I threw him a disgusted glare and picked myself up. I had just passed my Harrowing, the least he could do was afford me some dignity.

I waved to Owain and took the long way to Irving's office. Walking made me feel better; the pain already alleviating. I strolled through the first library, watching an apprentice learn how to hold an arcane shield. I stopped beside a standing bookshelf; the mentor tried to keep the apprentice calm as he conjured a fireball at the end of his staff, spinning it in small circles to increase the fireballs power. I saw the apprentice's arcane shield flicker and I raised my hands to cover my mouth, I knew what was coming. When the mentor released the fireball the apprentice screamed and curled into a ball on the ground, the shield all but forgotten.

I held my arm out in front of me and curled my fingers into a fist. My arcane shield barely surrounded the apprentice in time. The fireball collided with the shield and exploded spectacularly. Everyone in the library screamed and flinched; hiding behind wards and shields of their own. A few Templars ran in from other rooms, swords and shields at the ready. The apprentice looked up, his face the picture of surprise, fear and embarrassment. His mentor flew into a terrible rage, no doubt stemmed from the mentor's fear and surprise. As steadily as I could I walked over to the shaken apprentice and knelt beside him.

"The arcane shield is difficult to master. Unfortunately, it's something you can only learn to control using methods like that," The apprentice sniffed, wiping his eyes on his robes; "Why not try a different school of magic? Something less... demanding – Entropy, maybe?"

The apprentice nodded vigorously and the mentor hid a smirk behind his hand. He nodded his thanks and took his apprentice to get cleaned up. As I continued through to leave the library another apprentice accidently set himself on fire; I giggled as his mentor killed the flames and suggested they start with flint and tinder instead.

I had begun to feel much better. My body felt normal again and my headache was all but gone. I walked down along the corridor quickly scanning each room for Cullen. I wanted to thank him for not killing me but he was nowhere to be found. Sighing, I ran up another flight of stairs to the Mages' floor. The heavy oak door was already open when I reached the top of the stairs. Two Templars flanked the doorframe, ignoring me as I veered to the right and headed for the second library, picking up tomes discarded on the floor by the door.

I let out an agitated sigh and put them back on the shelves. It irked me to no end that the others could be so careless with such valuable information. I remembered having once discovered an old Tevinter healing tome that taught me a great many new skills, including how to manipulate pressure points for healing purposes and how to use a special form of touch-healing called massaging. I smiled to myself as I slid the final book onto the shelf; none of the books had been damaged.

Two senior enchanters congratulated me for passing my Harrowing. I thanked them as I ran out of the library. I had spent longer than I thought tidying the tomes away. As I neared First Enchanter Irving's office, I could hear him arguing with Knight-Commander Greagoir about the war to the south. I stopped by the door and knocked quietly. Sensing a tense atmosphere in the room I turned to leave when another man - younger than Irving and Greagoir yet looked as though he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders - abruptly cleared his throat and gestured towards me. I tugged at my robes and waved stiffly, uncomfortable with the attention. Greagoir marched over to me and gruffly congratulated me on my successful Harrowing. His cold, hard glare softened slightly for a split second. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought his expression was one of Pride. But I did know better, so I banished that thought from my mind. I mumbled a thank you as Knight-Commander Greagoir headed out of the room, insisting the conversation was not over.

I walked into the room with more confidence, silently thrilled that Greagoir acknowledged my effort. First Enchanter Irving handed me a brand new simple golden silk robe. I walked into Irving's private washroom to change while he applauded the speed and efficiency of my Harrowing. When I returned to the room Irving handed me an Enchanter's staff and a signet ring. I secured the staff onto my back and took the ring, admiring the craftsmanship. _Aria Amell_ was engraved on the inside of the silver band; a blue luminescent liquid filled the intricate swirling design on the outside of the band, I put the ring on my right middle finger and hummed along to the soft song of the lyrium.

Irving pointed out that there was just enough lyrium in the band to cast a minor spell in the event of an emergency. Irving then introduced me to the other man who had been silent the entire time: Duncan of the Grey Warden order. I bowed gracefully as Irving explained he was here seeking talent to assist in the battle at Ostagar. I glanced between the First Enchanter and Duncan, a flicker of hope sparked in my chest and I couldn't help but ask if I was being sent to help with the battle. Irving laughed heartily, assuring me that my only task was to accompany Duncan until dinner. My heart and face fell slightly and I resigned myself to babysitting duties.

Duncan and I strolled through the circular corridors discussing the Grey Wardens. Duncan admitted to being Ferelden's Warden Commander of the Grey Wardens and his purpose at the tower was to recruit more mages not only for the battle in Ostagar, but also for his order. As we descended to the lower levels of the tower, I explained that despite having so many mages in the tower, most of them were apprentices and children. Barely able to create fire let alone command the destructive forces of nature at a level the battle would require. He argued that one mage – even an apprentice – could match the might of five seasoned warriors against darkspawn. Mages were a formidable force and pivotal for victory. Conceding his point, I allowed myself to wonder what it would be like to be a Grey Warden.

The ground level was vacant save for two Templars standing guard by the heavy mahogany doors leading to the outside world. We walked into the lobby and I froze, my breathing hitched and my heart swan dived into my stomach. Duncan lingered a few steps ahead, his features marred with confusion. I swallowed the lump forming in my throat and my hands shook with anxiety and excitement as I smoothed them over my robes. For eighteen years I had stood by the lobby entrance beneath the stone archway imagining what it would be like to walk through the doors. Now that day had finally arrived and I was terrified. Would the reality be anything like I had imagined?

Duncan smiled at me, his features soft and genuine. He held his left arm out, elbow bent, silently offering to escort me past the Templars. I smiled softly biting back waves of ferocious anxiety and accepted his arm. The Templars stood to attention and side stepped into our path as we approached.

"Hail Grey Warden." The Templar on the left stepped towards Duncan, his right hand balled into a fist and held over his heart as he bowed low in respect; "You are free to pass but the mage must remain within the tower."

Duncan opened his mouth to speak but closed it again, apparently unwilling to cause problems. I uncoiled my arm from his and held it up to the Templar, showing off my ring – proof I'm allowed outside. The Templar grumbled as he stepped aside. The Templars opened the great doors for us and we walked into a bright, blinding light. I shielded my eyes with my free hand until we had stepped out of its path.

I gasped in awe. It was not at all how I had imagined it; it was so much more. The sun sat low on the horizon, blazing fiercely against a gradient sky of purple, red and orange. Stars softly twinkled through the colors, signalling that nightfall was close. The air was crisp but comfortable and smelled of dew, sunshine and wet dog. Duncan waited patiently for me as I kicked off my shoes and walked over to a grassy knoll. I rubbed my feet into the grass; feeling the blades of grass between my toes, the dirt beneath my feet. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, savouring the moment.

I exhaled contentedly and picked up my shoes. While I'd love to just remain on the grassy knoll and admire the world, I doubted Duncan would be interested in such idle pleasures. Just as I returned to Duncan, Cullen and another Templar appeared. The Templar offered to escort Duncan to the Templar training grounds where several Templars were running drills. Duncan looked over to me and I nodded in agreement, he was after recruits and despite how I felt about them, the Templars were decent warriors. Cullen promised to escort me in Duncan's absence and I coughed to clear my throat, it was all I could do to hide my excited grin.

Duncan left with the Templar, leaving Cullen and I alone by the Tower doors. I clutched my shoes to my chest and walked back over to the grassy knoll. Cullen's nervousness practically radiated off him. I bit my lip to hide the growing smile and sat down. Five Templars stood on the shoreline as a large group of mages swam in the lake. I felt a pang of agitation at the fact that even in the lake, where the water was too vast to swim across; the Templars could not trust us.

One of the male mages started to swim across the lake. My jaw dropped at the audacity of the mage. I quickly scanned the area; Cullen was speaking to one of the Tranquil by the hedges, his back was turned and there was no one else of note up here. I turned back to the scene. The mages in the water were cheering and the Templars shouted at the mage. One of the Templars had begun to remove his armor to give chase. I whispered good luck to no one in particular and gently cast rejuvenation and haste on the mage. Hopefully that would be enough to get him across the lake. The mages all cheered louder as the young boy sped up and quickly disappeared from sight.

Two of the Templars fled from the shoreline back towards the Tower. A bulky shadow lingered over me and I stilled, fear gripped my heart. Had a Templar noticed my magic? Cullen cleared his throat and dropped to his knees beside me. I released a breath I didn't realise I'd been holding and tried to remain calm.

"I'm glad to see your Harrowing went smoothly," Cullen stammered slightly, his eyes firmly fixed on the ground.

"I'm glad it did too," I smiled at him, he hadn't noticed. Cullen's cheeks reddened and he scratched the back of his neck. The image within the portal surfaced from memory; "would you have really struck me down?"

"I would've felt terrible about it," Cullen looked away from me. Familiar feelings that I'd named guilt, remorse and lo...fascination painfully warmed my heart. I cupped his face in my hand and gently forced him to look at me.

"You shouldn't," Before I could stop myself, I stroked Cullen's cheek with my thumb. I was surprised and quietly elated when he leaned into my hand ever so slightly; "I wouldn't want to live as an abomination. You'd have saved me from that."

Cullen took my hand in his gauntleted hand and squeezed it gently; "Aria, I-"

"Is that ... Cake?" Sniffing the air, I cut Cullen off. He sighed and leaned back to reveal a small wicker basket of food. Cullen removed the small towel covering the basket to reveal the contents. I licked my lips in anticipation causing Cullen to chuckle through his nose as he handed me a slice of berry and lyrium cake. I took the slice of cake and kissed Cullen's cheek. Cullen blushed deeply and I laughed in delight, it was a risky yet thoughtful gesture. I watched as Cullen tried to control his blush. His eyes darted from the lake, to the sky, to the grass, to the basket – anywhere but at me. I could feel my mouth watering for the cake. Not wanting to look like a drooling fool, I broke a piece of cake off to eat.

I moaned in appreciation as my body absorbed the lyrium and the tart berry taste melted onto my tastebuds. From the corner of my eye I saw Cullen watching me intently. I pulled a hair tie from my wrist and tied my hair back away from my face. Short tendrils of my raven hair fell back into my eyes. I caught my reflection in Cullen's breastplate, my deep blue iris' had lit up – were literally glowing – from the lyrium within the cake.

Cullen took a bite from his cake and drew in a deep breath. Templars took lyrium but they were not magical beings. I couldn't help but wonder what it was like for a non mage to ingest lyrium. I could hear the lyrium song coursing through him; it was delicate and heavenly but somehow sounded lonely like a part of him was missing.

I hummed along to his lyrium song while I ate my cake, tearing it into small bite sized pieces. Aside from my humming we sat in a comfortable silence. The templars were still by the sea, trying to bring the mages back onto land. I laughed as the mages – obviously still wanting to swim – froze the wet sand beneath the Templars feet, making them slip over. The Templar that remained standing cast a cleansing aura at the mages. I swayed at the magnitude of the aura and fell onto Cullen's shoulder. I felt his gauntlet against my back as he helped me sit upright but kept me close to him. The Templar had drained us of our mana and no matter what the Chantry says; draining mana like that is not only painful but bad for our health.

Cullen watched the scene below with a solemn expression. His grip loosened from around my waist, I leaned away from him, supporting myself on my left arm and nodded to him that I was fine. Cullen sighed softly through his nose and stood up to assist with the situation. Muttering that he would be back in a moment, I watched him walk towards the shoreline.

"He took his time leaving," Jowan knelt down beside me in Cullen's place. I wanted to tell him not to sit there, that Cullen would be coming back. Instead I kept quiet and watched Cullen as he pointed towards the tower. The mages laughed and splashed water at him; the ones who had recovered some of their mana froze the water, effectively hitting Cullen with ice. Jowan and I lurched forward and dry retched when Cullen released another burst of cleansing aura; "I need to speak with you."

"Jowan, I'm flattered but I'm not interested." I clutched my stomach and took slow, deep breaths; "I just don't see you like that."

"I... No, that's not... Just come with me, please?" Jowan stood up and combed his fingers through his hair and sighed. Taking one last look at Cullen and feeling crestfallen, I pulled my shoes on and walked off with Jowan. Despite his kindness, Cullen had reminded me that we would never be anything more than Mage and Templar.

"This is Lily, the girl I told you about," Jowan placed his hand on the small of Lily's back. The short redhead curtseyed. We were standing in a secluded corner of the Tower's Chantry, but could still see the entrance clearly.

"So you are real, I admit I had my doubts." Lily pursed her lips to smother a smile while Jowan stared at me unimpressed. I shrugged unapologetically; "You do realise she is a cloistered sister though, right? I mean... This isn't allowed." I pointed at the two of them, shaking my head.

"Lily was forced into the Chantry, and she hasn't taken her vows yet." Jowan justified quietly, "we need your help."

"You came here after Jowan, yet you have already completed your Harrowing." Lily spoke softly; I folded my arms over my chest and shifted my weight from one foot to another. There was a reason I went through my Harrowing early, but I wasn't going to tell them that. "I was delivering the Chantry correspondence to the First Enchanter yesterday and I saw a writ on his desk that approved the rite of Tranquillity to be performed upon Jowan at Moonset tomorrow."

"They'll take everything from me - my dreams, my love for Lily!" Jowan interjected. The rite of tranquillity was a painful and barbaric ritual. It was then that I noticed both Lily and Jowan had bloodshot and puffy eyes. Moonset tomorrow gave them little more than a day together. Lily snuck her hand into Jowans. He lifted it to his lips and placed a chaste kiss on her knuckles. I thought about a life without my magic, a life without emotions; a life without Cullen. Although it hurt to be near him and be denied a chance to have anything with him, Lily was not yet completely out of Jowan's reach.

"What 'help' did you have in mind?" I asked, already predicting their request.

Lily and Jowan planned to flee the tower. Jowan had made peace with being branded an apostate and they were ready to accept a life on the run; whatever it took to be together. Lily explained that the phylacteries of all apprentices were stored in the Tower's basement and since Jowan had not gone through his Harrowing, his would still be down there. The plan sounded simple: break into the basement, find and destroy Jowan's phylactery then flee the Tower. While good in theory, it would never be that easy.

"Pretend I'm cynical. If it were that simple, why hasn't it been done before now?" I pinched the bridge of my nose. They were asking a lot of me.

"The doors into the phylactery chamber are special. Are you going to help us or not?" Lily narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. I cocked my eyebrow and smothered my face in my hands; Maker there was no way this could end well. 

Before I could respond, a Templar entered the Chantry with Duncan. Lily ripped her hand from Jowan and hastily departed. The Templar informed us that dinner was being served in the dining hall. Duncan appeared by my side and whispered that my company was more engaging than the Templar's. I chortled at the comment and glanced at Jowan, he was scowling at the Templar. I opened my mouth to say something but closed my mouth thinking better of it. The Templar turned on his hell and marched out of the Chantry. Jowan stalked past Duncan and me, doing his best to hide a limp. I looked at his leg when Jowan turned to walk down the corridor and saw the corner of a bloodied bandage poking out above his boot.

Dinner was already in full swing when Duncan and I entered the dining hall. The Templars and Mages sat at their respective tables and didn't even notice our entry. Knight-Commander Greagoir and First Enchanter Irving sat as far away from one another as they could. Several brave mages were in the middle of challenging the Knight-Commander to a drinking game. Duncan and I laughed when the mages fled when Knight-Commander Greagoir reached back for his sword but scratched the nape of his neck instead.

I smiled sweetly at Duncan and offered him the chance to sit with the Templars. Duncan's eyes widened and he held his hands up in defence when he politely declined. I had to smother a giggle over his reaction, after spending all day at the Templar training ground, I'd be sick and tired of the tin heads too. Duncan told me to find us seats while he collected our food; apparently he wanted to speak with me more. I scanned the dining hall for free seats. Noting that Jowan was not in the room, I settled on sitting with the First Enchanter. I wanted to speak with him anyway.

The room bustled with loud chatter, laughter, gambling and general revelry. Duncan sat down beside me with his fourth plate of food. I stared wide eyed at him; thoroughly impressed that he could pack away that much food and not weigh as much as a bear. Three apprentices ran into the dining hall laughing their heads off; First Enchanter Irving and I looked over to see what was so funny. A young Templar recruit had chased the apprentices into the dining hall in nothing but his smallclothes.

The hall was deathly silent as all of the mages and Templars turned their full attention to the recruit. The young recruit back peddled slightly, stunned and embarrassed. I frowned at the apprentices; the poor Templar recruit had been at Kinloch Hold less than a week and did not deserve such torment. Looking over at the First Enchanter for approval I cast a small heroic spell on the recruit. The recruit stood to attention and saluted to the room. How could the mages ever expect the Templars to treat them better if they do not give them the same courtesy?

A young boy, no older than six began to clap; other mages and even the Templars joined in on the applause until the entire room gave the recruit a standing ovation. I looked over at the First Enchanter and he shrugged feigning ignorance. The applause continued until the recruit turned on his heel and marched out of the room as though he were in full armor. I noticed Cullen watching me; he mouthed a silent _thank you_ then exited the room to speak with the recruit.

First Enchanter Irving and I escorted Duncan to his quarters for the night. Dinner had become quite boring after the recruit left the hall. Duncan bid us goodnight and closed the oak door to his room, no doubt wanting his privacy during Templar rounds. I walked with First Enchanter Irving to his office as it was close to the mage quarters; it also gave me a chance to speak to – or more accurately, beg – him about letting me fight at Ostagar. He listened intently as I made my case. My magic – the healing aspects, if nothing else – could be of great benefit to the soldiers. I recalled Duncan's words out loud: _'Mages are a formidable force and pivotal for victory.'_

The First Enchanter refused to give me an answer, promising only to consider my argument. I ran my fingers through my hair, it was clear that I was not going to win a chance to go with Duncan tonight.

"What troubles you, child?" The First Enchanters wizened, gravelly voice resounded through the hallway. I sighed deeply as we entered his office, considering how best to approach the topic of Jowan's Harrowing. It was not my place to pry, but Irving had been my mentor when I first arrived at Kinloch Hold from Kirkwall. He was the father I'd never had and he had trusted me with delicate information before; perhaps he would share this with me too.

"Why hasn't Jowan completed his Harrowing?" Irving folded his arms over his chest and leaned back onto his right leg; a stance he took when he was about to lecture me. I bowed slightly and cast my eyes downward; "I'm sorry, it's not my place."

"We do not think he is ready," Irving rocked back and forth from one leg to another; a distraction to anyone who would think they were speaking of a serious topic. His voice was low and guarded but sincere; he wanted to know what I knew. "Has he said something to you?"

I met his gaze and gave him a slight nod that would go unseen by any who passed by. Irving tilted his head and blinked slowly; urging me to continue and confirm his suspicions; "He thinks you are going to make him Tranquil and plans to flee." My voice barely above a whisper.

The First Enchanters gaze flickered from me to the door. Two Templars walked past, watching us and slowing their pace. First Enchanter Irving removed his staff and placed it on his weapon rack. Satisfied that we were behaving, the Templars increased their pace and resumed their rounds. I toyed with the lyrium ring while First Enchanter Irving rubbed his temples.

"Did the cloistered sister he is courting tell him such?" He turned back to me. I couldn't hide my surprise at his question. He nodded, taking my reaction as confirmation; "I thought as much. I don't suppose you know what they plan to do, do you?"

"They want me to help them break into the basement and destroy his phylactery," I explained. Irving scratched his chin thoughtfully; "Apparently I have to help them because the doors are special or something."

Irving held his chin in contemplation, occasionally humming through his nose. I took a deep breath and told him about the bloodied bandage around Jowan's ankle. As soon as the words left my lips Irving's head snapped up, his full attention on me and his expression serious; "We have suspected Jowan of using blood magic. He will be made tranquil."

I bit into my lower lip, regretting the fact I'd mentioned the bandage. Irving grasped my biceps firmly and stared straight into my eyes; "I don't know how the sister knows of the basements inner workings, but it's high time the Chantry learn sin is not exclusive to mages. If we must punish one of our own, I will see the Chantry done the same courtesy."

I stood, stunned at Irving's words. I wasn't sure if I was ready to accept that Irving was willing to sacrifice Lily to show the Chantry that there are evils beyond magic in our world but something within me reasoned that this was a courageous move. That it was necessary to show the Chantry that mages could not be blamed for everything wrong with the world.

Irving walked behind his desk and took a lyrium potion from one of the desk drawers, "the less people who are involved, the better." He pushed the potion into my palm and wrapped my fingers around the vial. I took the potion and tucked it into one of the pockets in my robes.

Balancing on his fingertips, Irving stared at the sheets of parchment scattered over his desk. I took a tentative step forward and copied him. I waited as he inhaled deeply through his nose. When he raised his head, he had a devilish gleam in his eyes that frightened me to my core; "This is what you are going to do."


	2. To Escape Your Fate part 2

p class="MsoNormal"The basement was cold and dark, the only source of light coming from two stone statues holding bowls of fire. Aria led the duo down the steps, cobwebs covered the hallway - Proof that none had been down here in decades. A large, heavy door blocked their way, runic symbols were etched into the door frame. Jowan stood behind Lily and Aria, his magic useless for the moment. Lily began to give the mages a history lesson. Jowan cut her off; reminding her they were short on time. Lily huffed and raised her hand at the door in prayer./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Sword of the Maker, tears of the Fade." Lily finished priming the door; there was a loud click, Jowan and Aria felt a shift in the veil. Aria felt her magic flare within her chest; it wanted to touch the runes. She weaved a ball of raw magic in her palm and cast it at the door. There was another loud click and the door began to recede into the walls, Jowan grew anxious as the planks groaned, moving far too slowly; at this rate, he thought, they'd be caught for sure. When the path was finally clear Lily, Jowan and Aria walked down the dank, stone corridor. Jowan commented on the stone statues and Aria had to admit, they did look creepy. Aria felt another shift in the veil, it made her feel strange. When they reached the entrance to the phylactery chamber, Lily told her the door should be simple enough for her to break down with magic./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Wait, something's wrong. I can't cast magic." Jowan flicked his hands at the door and nothing happened. Lily stared at Aria, panic clear on her face. Aria tried to call forth her magic; like Jowan, there was nothing. Aria realized the strange feeling she had was actually a hollow feeling - emptiness. She had no magic, she was 'normal'. Aria pulled the rod of fire from within her robes - as it did not rely on mana and magic the same way she did - she thought it may still work. She pointed the rod of fire at the door, and nothing happened. Aria tapped the rod against her hand a few times and tried again; still nothing. Jowan cried out in frustration and Lily choked out a sob. Aria noticed there were more runes in this room, some were ancient, designed to negate all forms of magic./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria dropped the rod of fire and bashed her fists against the door, Lily cried over the futility of their plight - magic was made useless so mages couldn't enter the chamber. From the corner of her eye Aria saw another door, it was camouflaged and obscured by cobwebs but it was definitely a door. Aria picked up the rod of fire and walked over to it, when she had put some distance between her and the door, she felt mana rush through her veins and her magic return. She held the rod of fire over the door handle; a column of fire spewed forth, melting a hole in the door. Aria returned the rod of fire to its hiding place in her robes. She called to the others, waving them over; Aria and Jowan braced themselves against the door and pushed as hard as they could. The door dragged against the ground, opening slowly./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lily murmured a prayer as they ventured down another stone corridor. Suits of templar armor, standing to attention, lined the walls; Aria felt uncomfortable under their gaze. Halfway down the corridor, the atmosphere changed. Two suits of armor came to life, Jowan and Aria saw spirits controlling the armor. Lily pulled two daggers out and charged towards the armor. Aria briefly wondered where she had kept them hidden; another suit of armor grabbed her from behind. She yelled in surprise and released a mind blast. The suit of armour recoiled from the spell giving Lily enough time to sink her daggers into the armor, severing the gauntlet from the arm, freeing Aria. Aria shot an Arcane Bolt at the suit of armor behind Lily and cast a crushing prison around the third suit of armor. Jowan enchanted their weapons with fire and shot a fireball at another two metal suits that had come alive. Lily ran over to one of the burning suits and sunk her daggers deep into their back. The suit of armor fell apart at her feet. Before the final suit of armor could come alive, Jowan shot it with a bolt of lightning. It fell apart, clanging against the ground. /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Maker's breath! What was that?" Lily puffed lightly. Jowan shook his hands, cooling them off. Aria laced here fingers together; cracking her knuckles then flexed her fingers./p  
p class="MsoNormal" "I don't know. Let's just find the Phylactery chamber and get out of here." Jowan stepped over a helmet and continued down the corridor. Lily and Aria looked at one another and followed./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Several more suits of armor came to life as they ventured deeper into the basement. Jowan and Aria made short work of them, but they were getting tired. Lily took the lead, opening a wooden door to a room full of antiquities. Aria walked over to a bookshelf, checking out the titles and flipping through a few pages, she stole a glance at Jowan and Lily before shoving a few tomes into her robes hidden pockets. Jowan walked over to a statue in the corner of the room, examining the artifacts around its base and Lily looked at the statue of a mabari sitting in the center of the room./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria's feet felt cold, she knelt down and looked beneath the bookshelf. She could see a white blue light between the wall and the floor – a false wall. Aria stood and called Jowan over to help shift the bookshelf aside./p  
p class="MsoNormal""This mabari is facing that wall, and it's not like any normal mabari statue." Lily stepped away from the statue; Jowan and Aria looked it over. As Aria leaned over the statue, the rod of fire slipped out of her robe; the mabari statue reacted to the rod of fire shooting a fireball at the wall. The wall blew apart revealing the phylactery chamber. The trio stood dumbfounded; Jowan raced into the Phylactery, disappearing up a flight of stairs. Aria and Lily carefully stepped over the broken wall and admired the sight. Frozen stone shelves reaching to the ceiling lined the walls, phylacteries of all shapes and sizes sat on the shelves. Some phylacteries were iced over, icicles hung from the roof and Aria did her best to not stand beneath them./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Over here, I found it." Jowan called from the second level of the chamber. Lily and Aria ran over to him. He held a long tube of blood; that tiny tube was the key to his freedom. Aria briefly wished her phylactery was still in the tower, but quickly cast aside the pointless thought. Jowan dropped the phylactery letting it shatter against the stone floor. Aria stared at the broken phylactery while Jowan hugged Lily, lifting her off the ground and spinning her. He placed her back on her feet and fled through the main door. Aria felt the atmosphere jolt to life then fade away. Jowan and Lily raced for the basement entrance while Aria trudged along behind them, her betrayal weighing on her mind./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal""So what you said was true, Irving." Knight-Commander Greagoir stood before the basement entrance, flanked by First Enchanter Irving and a templar. Jowan held his arm out, shielding Lily from the group. Aria quietly climbed the steps, staying away from the group. Although she was under orders to be there, the expression on the Knight-Commanders face ignited a special kind of fear within her; "An initiate, conspiring with a blood mage. She has betrayed us."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria stood as still as she could, praying that her magic would somehow offer her a way to blend in with her surroundings. Cullen, Duncan and another templar walked into the room as Knight-Commander Greagoir accused Jowan of blood magic and called for his execution; "And as for you two: you have conspired with a blood mage and you have scorned the Chantry and your vows. Take them to Aeonar." Lily avoided the Knight-Commanders gaze as he passed judgement; Aria paled and felt light headed./p  
p class="MsoNormal""She is here under my orders, Greagoir." First Enchanter Irving walked over to Aria, standing between her and the templars; "I take full responsibility for her actions."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria was reeling from being sentenced to Aeonar. She had read little about the mage prison, but the rumors alone suggested it was a dangerous, merciless place. Aria's heart pumped furiously, magic thundered through her, muffling the argument between Knight-Commander Greagoir and First Enchanter Irving. She saw templars advancing on Lily and knew they would try to take her, but she would not go without a fight - she knew she had done nothing wrong. As she reached for her staff she saw Cullen walking towards her, sword drawn. Her heart broke: his eyes were glazed over from fighting back tears but he still stood tall, prepared to do his duty - to kill her - if it became necessary./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Please... Don't make this any harder." He whispered as he grabbed her arm firmly and held the sword against her neck and chest, she closed her eyes and held her breath, his voice was low but grated with pain. In that moment, Aria realized why mages were discouraged from loving anyone, especially a templar; the knowledge that she was the reason Cullen was in such pain hurt her more than anything she would face at Aeonar./p  
p class="MsoNormal"As they stood there, waiting for the Knight-Commander to give his orders, Jowan pulled a dagger from his robes and stabbed it into his hand. The room fell deathly cold and Aria felt the veil tear open as Jowan used blood magic to throw everyone away from Lily. The Knight-Commander and First Enchanter were thrown backwards, colliding with each other as they hit the ground. Cullen dropped his sword in time to grab Aria as they were flung into the wall behind them. Cullen grunted, using himself to shield Aria from the impact while she sustained a barrier that protected them both from the blood magic. The templars that had surrounded Lily were not so fortunate; they had been the closest when Jowan called upon his blood. Lily screamed as the templars gurgled and choked, drowning in blood pillars. Jowan pushed them away from Lily, they both fell to the ground, limp and lifeless./p  
p class="MsoNormal" Aria cradled Cullen's head in her lap. Her fingers were covered in blood. She placed one hand over the wound and the other on his forehead, her eyelids flickered as her magic flowed from her fingertips into Cullen's wound. When she was satisfied that the damage was healed, she sent a pulse of rejuvenation magic into Cullen. He tried to sit up but was still woozy. Aria pulled a small injury kit from his pocket and wrapped a bandage around his head. Jowan stood before Lily, drenched in blood. She stepped away from him in fear, wanting nothing more to do with him. Jowan looked over at Aria, anguish clear on his face. Aria glared daggers back at him and summoned another shield. Knight-Commander called for more templars to fight the blood mage. Before they arrived however, Jowan had already fled the tower./p  
p class="MsoNormal""This is all your fault!" Knight-Commander Greagoir stormed over to Aria, ripping her to her feet. He threw Aria at the templars, demanding they take her to Aeonar immediately while he dealt with the initiate. First Enchanter Irving protested and Aria begged to be released, but Greagoir would have none of it. Duncan seized the opportunity to conscript Aria into the Grey Wardens./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The room fell silent and nobody moved, stunned by Duncan's sudden comment. Aria and Irving looked at one another then over to Duncan, Aria wondered if he was allowed to conscript circle mages. Knight-Commander Greagoir flew into a terrible rage, vehemently refusing Duncan's orders. Greagoir deemed her responsible and wanted her punished, not rewarded with a chance to join the Wardens. Duncan leaned in and spoke to Knight-Commander Greagoir softly, when he leaned back Greagoir ordered the templars to release Aria. She was to leave the tower immediately with Duncan./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Not wanting to try Knight-Commander Greagoir's patience further, Aria wrenched her arms free from the templars' grasp and walked over to First Enchanter Irving. She quietly thanked him for everything and wished things had turned out a little differently. He nodded and apologized to her. Duncan cleared his throat, signalling it was well past time to leave. Aria asked if she could gather a few things for the journey, promising to meet him by the entrance as soon as she was ready./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria fled to her quarters, she grabbed a small pack and stuffed it with a few injury kits and poultices. She pulled the tomes from her robes and put them into the pack. The clanging of heavy armor caught her attention; "I will be done soon templar, fear not, I will leave as promised."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I..." Aria felt the chill of the metal breastplate on her back. Cullen folded his arms around her waist and rested his head against hers, his breathing was shaky; "I want you to take this." Cullen placed an amulet around her neck, Aria lifted her hair so Cullen could fix the clasp for her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Thank you, Cullen." Aria turned to look at him, but Cullen turned his gaze from her. Aria smiled ruefully, she had seen his tears fall. Aria stood on her tip-toes and gentle kissed Cullen's cheek, letting her lips linger against his skin; "I'll treasure it." Without another word, Aria gathered her pack and walked out of her quarters./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The giant doors of the tower slammed shut behind her; she held her head high and looked at Duncan. Despite everything, she couldn't help but smile; the sun had long since set, the stars twinkled brightly against the dark sky, the air felt crisp and she felt free. Aria took her first step as a Grey Warden and knew that there was no turning back./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I don't know how you do it!" Aria puffed, leaning against her staff. It had been a week since she left the tower. An entire week since she had a bath, she thought; "traveling on foot everywhere, wearing the same clothes day in and day out, I'm exhausted and I emstink!"/em Aria sniffed her robes and pulled a disgusted face. "I'm burning these robes and buying new ones when we get to Ostagar."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Duncan chuckled and they continued down the Imperial Highway. Duncan allowed for only short rests, they were making acceptable time but still had a ways to go. Aria would often cast haste and rejuvenation to speed the trip up, even a little. Duncan didn't seem to mind her use of magic, he had actually thanked her for it. Aria simply nodded and smiled to herself - no one had ever thanked her for using her magic. emPerhaps being a Grey Warden won't be so bad,/em she mused./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They arrived at Ostagar a week later. Aria had never been so excited to reach a destination before, she was all but out of lyrium potions. The fortress was magnificent and had weathered the ages well. A battalion of soldiers stood before a great stone bridge, a young man in golden armor stood in the front. Aria watched as the Golden armored man walked swiftly up to Duncan and shook his hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal""King Cailan! I didn't expect-" Duncan shook the King's hand, clearly surprised to see him so soon. Aria stood off to the side as the two men briefly discussed the upcoming battle. Aria noticed that the King was quite young and did not seem to take the impending battle seriously. She briefly wondered if he was really the King and not some doppelganger./p  
p class="MsoNormal""- Ho there, friend! Might I know your name?" Aria stared at the King, now that he stood before her, she found he was quite a bit taller than her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I am Aria, your Majesty." Aria knew little of nobility and etiquette, she bowed before him hoping that was the correct gesture./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Please to meet you! Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Ostagar, we have a few mages here and we are in desperate need of your skills." One of the soldiers whispered to the young King; "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I must return to my tent. Loghain awaits to bore me with his strategies."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Well, he seems... Um..." Aria and Duncan watched as the King walked across the bridge, his battalion of soldiers in hot pursuit; "Nice?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Duncan smiled at the mage and told her of the current situation. The King's army had already won several skirmishes with the darkspawn in the previous weeks and they were becoming rather confident of their abilities. Duncan felt the skirmishes were the darkspawns way of testing their strength. The battle tomorrow would be against the bulk of the horde and not a simple skirmish. If they did not win the battle tomorrow, all of Fereldon would be lost. Aria was speechless, when she had asked - begged - to join the battle, she did not consider that one battle alone would determine the fate of Fereldon. At the very least, she had expected - emwhat had I expected/em, she wondered./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Duncan explained - rather vaguely - that she must undertake a ritual called the Joining to become a Grey Warden and advised her to seek out another Grey Warden called Alistair before nightfall. He would gather the recruits and could help her prepare for the ritual. The sun sat past high noon, Aria had a few hours to herself before she had to find Alistair. Aria walked across the bridge and into the Ostagar encampment. The left path led to the King's tent and the tent of his general, the path to the right led to the magi encampment. Aria saw two templars standing by the entrance. The mages were here by personal request from the King, according to rumors back at the tower, yet they were still under templar scrutiny. Aria sighed and walked past the templars, further into the camp./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The encampment bustled with people - rogues and warriors praying for victory, guards turning people away from other areas of the camp, couriers running letters, armour and weapons around, revered Mothers offering the Maker's blessing; and a quartermaster, yelling at a young red headed elf. Aria hurried over to the quartermaster, eager to be rid of her filthy robes./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Excuse me, do you have any mage robes?" Aria quickly scanned the weapons and armor on display, most of it was chainmail - not at all appropriate for casting magic./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Mage robes? I have some - for a modest price, of course." He grabbed a green robe - similar to her current ones - and a pair of new leather boots; "70 silver."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I don't have that much, may I trade a few things with you to make the difference?" the quartermaster examined her. Aria's once brilliant yellow robes had turned brown from the mud and muck, her shoes were scuffed and starting to break. None of it would be worth much, he determined, but her amulet.../p  
p class="MsoNormal""Whatever you have, plus that amulet and - " "the amulet is not for sale." Aria hid the amulet beneath her robes and scowled at him; "whatever I have, plus this ring. It's worth more than everything combined." /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria removed the ring she had received from the First Enchanter and placed it on the table next to 55 coppers. The quartermaster considered her deal and was about to decline when one of the mages walked over and offered 80 silvers for the ring. The quartermaster beamed with joy at Aria, handing over the robes and boots; "Maker be with you in the coming battle, friend."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria walked over to the magi tents, and asked one of the tranquil if she could take a bath. The female tranquil led her over to a tent belonging to a senior mage called Wynne. The tranquil requested the use of Wynne bath for Aria. Wynne smiled at the new mage and waved the tranquil away. As Aria heated up the water, Wynne congratulated her on completing the Harrowing and becoming a Grey Warden then left her alone. Aria stripped off her robes and climbed into the wooden bath, she reached for a sponge and a small vial of milky liquid and began to scrub./p  
p class="MsoNormal"It took the better part of ten minutes for Aria to smell somewhat clean. She dried off and changed into her new garments. Strapping her staff to her back, she strode purposefully into the ruins of what once was a great hall. Making sure she was alone, Aria placed the garments on the ground and snapped her fingers, the clothing burst into flames. she waited as the clothes disintegrated before dousing the flames./p  
p class="MsoNormal""And here I thought we were getting along so well. I was going to name one of my children after you... the emgrumpy /emone." Aria looked up, a mage and a warrior stood on the level above her. The mage shook his head and threw his hands up in frustration./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Enough, I will speak with her. Get out of my way, emfool!"/em Aria watched as the mage walked down a stone ramp, straight past her and out into the encampment. She wondered why he was so angry at the warrior./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together." The warrior leaned on the concrete banister and looked down at Aria./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I know what you mean.." Aria responded absentmindedly, still staring after the mage. She replayed what he had said in her head and looked at him, her eyebrow raised. Thinking of it, she wasn't sure how to take that comment./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I uh, don't suppose you happen to be another mage?" the warrior eyed her cautiously. Aria walked up the ramp, to stand next to the warrior. He ran a hand through his blonde hair; Aria could help but notice he was rather attractive, but she dismissed the thought. She was wearing her staff, a dead giveaway that she was a mage./p  
p class="MsoNormal" "I am Aria; formerly a circle mage." Aria bowed her head slightly./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Right! you're Duncan's new recruit," the warrior stood upright and held out his hand. Aria shook his hand; "I'm Alistair, though you probably already knew that. Since you are here, we should proceed with preparations for the Joining."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" ~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria, Alistair and two other Warden recruits - Jory and Daveth - stood in the ruins of an old temple. Darkness had engulfed the sky, the battle would begin soon. Aria watched as warriors, rogues, mages and templars alike made their final preparations, cleaning and preparing their weapons, readying their armor, mages were grabbing as many lyrium potions as they could; people in charge were directing the readied soldiers and mages to their positions on the field, the archers were sent to the bridge. Aria walked over to the others, Jory was still complaining about the amount of tests and trials needed to become a Warden while Daveth tried to shut him up. Alistair leaned against a ruined pillar deep in thought./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Are you ok?" Aria walked over to Alistair, he jumped at the sudden intrusion, hand on the hilt of his sword./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Yes, I'm fine." Alistair relaxed slightly, returning to his spot against the pillar; "Are you ready for what is to come?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria shrugged, Duncan had made it clear to them that there was no turning back. She had passed her Harrowing and assumed the Joining could be no worse than facing down a demon. Duncan walked over to the group carrying a chalice. He explained to the group that the Grey Wardens were founded during the first blight, to save humanity in its darkest hour. In order to do so, the Grey Wardens drank the blood of the darkspawn. This gave them the ability to 'sense' the Archdemon just as the darkspawn do. Aria crinkled her nose in disgust - drinking blood was not a pleasant thought and this seemed to be no different to blood magic. She recalled Duncan telling her that Grey Wardens are willing to do whatever is necessary to defeat a Blight. As Alistair began the ritual, Aria entertained the idea of Jowan becoming a Grey Warden. emAt least he is willing to use blood magic/em she thought./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria watched as Duncan handed the chalice of darkspawn blood to Daveth. He stared at the contents for a moment, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do, then drank. He handed the chalice back and looked around, Aria thought he was fine until he began choking and clawing at his neck. Duncan apologized and Alistair looked away. Daveth dropped to his knees, his eyes rolled back into his head. Aria and Jory watched as Daveth gurgled one last time before falling onto the floor. The taint had killed him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jory drew his sword and pointed it at Duncan, he refused to drink from the chalice and wanted to go home. He accused Duncan of betraying his trust. Duncan gave the chalice to Alistair and drew his sword. Aria walked over to Alistair as Duncan charged at Jory. Jory managed to block the first two blows but Duncan threw him off balance, ramming his sword into Jory's stomach. Jory gasped and dropped his weapon. Duncan apologized to Jory as he withdrew his own weapon. Aria felt bile rising in her throat as Jory crumpled on the ground./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair looked at Aria, his face betraying him. Aria knew this couldn't have been easy for either of them. She took the chalice from him and drank without hesitation. Her magic flared within her, offended by the intrusion and she felt something within her change. She felt her eyes roll into the back of her head and she fell down. She tried to call her magic forth, to save her from whatever the blood was doing to her. She vaguely heard Duncan say something about Wardens but she could hear what. She felt her magic encircling her, drawing her into the Fade./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria stood in a sea of darkspawn, they laughed and cheered as the grey clouds above them were torn asunder. The sky was an intense green - different to the skies in the Fade. A high dragon looked at the sky and bellowed an earth shaking roar. It looked down directly at Aria and unfurled its wings. It was no ordinary high dragon; large spikes protruded from its face and body, large areas of scale had been ripped off and were oozing blood, even its skin looked charred. Aria could've sworn the creature was smiling at her. Aria screamed and willed herself away from the scene; emThis is... Was that an Archdemon? So this is a Blight. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emMaker help us./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p 


	3. The Sting of Betrayal

Aria walked through the darkness; her magic danced around her and illuminating her steps. She could hear voices in the darkness but she had no idea what they were saying. Her magic stopped dancing around her; encircling her arm and guiding her backwards.

_"The boy will live, this one may not be so lucky."_

_"Start bandaging her wounds, girl!"_

"Two more deaths..." Aria opened her eyes slowly. Duncan and Alistair hovered over her. They gave her space to recover and stand. Alistair told her of his Joining but she could only think of that dragon. Is that what they were to face in the battle? How could they hope to beat something like that?

Aria shakily pulled herself to her feet. She knelt forward, waiting for her head to stop spinning before standing up. Alistair gently placed a hand on her back and arm to steady her. One of the King's soldiers ran up the ramp, requesting Duncan's presence at the final strategy meeting. As they left, Aria fled Alistair's grasp. She ran over to a corner of the ruin and retched. She wanted so badly to be sick, to get the darkspawn blood out of her.

"Did you have dreams?" Alistair spoke softly as he walked over and handed her a waterskin. She thanked him and took a small sip. For a split second she felt alright, she took a careful breath and retched again; "I had terrible dreams after my Joining."

Aria flexed her fingers, letting her magic flow between them. She closed her eyes and listened to her mana thrumming within her chest; it was calm and rhythmic as normal but she knew something had changed. In the depths of her mind she could feel scratching, incoherent chatter, hollow laughter; the echo of an order to destroy. Alistair stood quietly beside her, he wasn't sure what to say. He had mastered his taint and it no longer bothered him, he could almost block it out. He remembered another Grey Warden telling him that the joining was far worse for a mage, but he never knew exactly why. Alistair had always assumed their connections to the Fade made it harder to block out the dreams and the voices.

"That...Was more painful than my Harrowing." Aria spoke between rasped breaths. Alistair chuckled and suggested they head back to the Warden Camp.

Aria was still weak from the Joining. Alistair walked slowly beside her, one hand resting on her back. Soldiers of the Ferelden army marched through the camp, heading to their assigned areas. Several soldiers were acting foolishly, shoving one another around. One of the soldiers – a warrior carrying a large two handed sword on his back – was shoved a little too hard; he stumbled and bumped into Aria. She grunted and stumbled; Alistair reacted quickly, scooping her up into his arms, allowing the soldier to fall to the ground. Alistair held Aria close to him while he scowled at the foolish warrior.

"Come on Carver! Captain Varel said he'd put us at the front of the vanguard if we're late!" Two soldiers beckoned the warrior to catch up. The warrior picked himself up from the ground and bowed slightly at the two Grey Wardens before running over to his companions; "He wouldn't! I saw him trying to woo that redheaded warrior in the fifth garrison."

Alistair felt Aria's grip around his neck tighten slightly at the mention of templars. He eyed her curiously as he carried her to the camp. Alistair gently placed her on the ground and Aria handed him the waterskin. He placed it in his pack by the fire. Aria watched as her magic manifested and danced around her. She tried to call it back but it continued dancing around her body, diluting her surroundings until she was again in darkness.

_"Get more bandages, girl"_

_"Is she..."_

_"Go and rest, boy, you cannot help her here."_

"...but if the king asks me to put on a dress and dance the remigold, I am drawing the line; Darkspawn or no." Alistair shook his hands in defiance.

"I think I'd like to see that," Aria smiled mischievously, trying to imagine what Alistair would look like in a dress; Alistair grinned.

"For you, maybe," he quipped, "but it has to be a pretty dress."

Duncan pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He had been instructed to entrust the task of lighting the signal fire to Aria and Alistair, and here they stood before him, acting like idiots. Duncan explained the rest of the plan to them and bid them farewell. They watched as Duncan walked down a path that led to the vanguard, where the rest of the Grey Wardens and the bulk of the Ferelden army waited. Aria and Alistair walked over to the great stone bridge. A revered mother recited the Maker's blessing and the Chant of Light as the archers took their positions along the bridge. Several mages stood behind them, igniting iron braziers so the archers could shoot flaming arrows, and casting as many wards, shields and support spells as they could.

Aria placed her hand over Cullen's amulet; she took comfort in knowing Cullen was with her, even though he was not by her side. Below, the army was preparing to meet the first wave of darkspawn. The scratching in Aria's mind became louder, more furious. She knew there were far too many darkspawn in the wilds for the Ferelden army alone to handle.

Dark bloated clouds lingered in the sky. Lightning flashed in the distance followed by thunderous rumbling. Aria looked up at the clouds threatening to release a torrential downpour upon the battlefield. She turned her gaze to the fields below, she had a plan but she needed to time it perfectly.

The first wave of darkspawn approached the makeshift choke point. The archers loosed a hail of flaming arrows. The mages had used the arrow heads as anchor points for spells. When they found their marks; mental blasts exploded from arrows, stunning numerous enemies. Other arrows released powerful blasts of horror and petrify, some turned the felled darkspawn into walking bombs or turned the darkspawn into a target for an incoming fireball.

Alistair cringed as a boulder collided with the bridge, knocking several mages and archers over. Soldiers ran along the bridge, readying their ballistae. The trebuchets below began to fire. The mages cast their spells on the boulders and the soldiers sent them flying. Aria set one boulder on fire as it sailed through the air, she laughed excitedly as it began to descend but her laughter was cut short when she and several soldiers dived out of the way. An Ogre had caught the boulder and thrown it back at them. Aria felt the veil tremble as a mage from somewhere in the vanguard below summon an inferno on the advancing horde. Everyone on the bridge retched as the smell of burning, rotting flesh assaulted their nostrils. However foul the smell; the spell worked perfectly. The inferno tore through the wave of darkspawn easily, leaving a trail of fire in its wake. Some darkspawn ran around the field on fire, others raised their weapons high and ran towards the army despite the flames. Another resounding clap of thunder was all the warning the armies received; the heavens opened and the rain pelted down, dousing the inferno. The Ferelden army used the opportunity to charge into the fray; content with the damage dealt by the mages. Aria summoned a blizzard amongst the clouds, high above the battlefield. The cold air mixed with the water as it fell, turning them into chunks of ice. She smiled victoriously as they pelted the darkspawn mercilessly. Aria was surprised and silently ecstatic that the spell did not hit any of the soldiers in the army. Alistair stared at Aria; he had never seen magic used like that before. The letters Duncan sent ahead stated she was newly out of her Harrowing, _surely she could not have such control_, he thought.

Aria cracked her knuckles and grinned at Alistair. He drew his sword and shield, crouching in a defensive position. Aria's face dropped and she turned around as two soldiers ran onto the bridge, a group of darkspawn chasing them. Aria quickly enchanted everyone's weapons with flame and shot a burst of fire at the group of darkspawn. Alistair charged at the group, making sure to keep Aria behind him while giving her space to cast her spells. Aria admired the warrior as he blocked an incoming blow and thrust his sword into the Hurlock's abdomen. The Hurlock flailed and roared as Alistair kicked him off the sword. The Hurlock fell into a Genlock behind it; Aria took the chance to freeze the two darkspawn together as Alistair lined himself up for a strong shield bash. The darkspawn shattered into a million pieces. Aria noticed her spell had worn off, the hail had returned to rain. Wasting no more time, Aria and Alistair ran towards the Towel of Ishal. Aria felt her magic explode within her chest and she ran straight into darkness.

"_Mother, you are losing her."_

_"Bah! Get me another lyrium potion."_

_"Shall I redress her wounds?"_

_ "Later. Go tell the boy outside of the battle."_

_"Very well, Mother. Her head is bleeding."_

_"Her skull is cracked, get out while I work."_

"Maker's breath, there wasn't supposed to be any resistance here!" Alistair panted, leaning against a wall for support. Aria grabbed a lyrium potion from her pack and drank it in one gulp. She hissed as the liquid trickled through her, she was not used to drinking such potent lyrium. She cast a rejuvenation spell on them both and they continued on. The first level of the tower had been infested with Hurlocks and Genlocks, Alistair had cut them down while Aria stayed back flinging spells in between sustaining shields and glyphs and healing Alistair. Aria stared at Alistair icily then walked off. Alistair rolled his eyes and followed her; "Look, I'm sorry. When we get out of here, I'll explain everything."

"What's to explain?" Aria's voice was deceptively calm; "Besides, weren't you complaining that you wouldn't get to fight?" Alistair snarled and pretended to choke her then took a deep breath and shook his head. That was the last thing he wanted.

The darkspawn had laid a trap in the main circular room on the first floor; Alistair had charged in before assessing the situation and snapped a trip wire. Aria got caught in the fiery blow-back of an explosion. She had panicked and cast a winter's grasp to stop the flames but slipped and cast it on an unsuspecting Hurlock archer instead. Alistair had spotted a Genlock mage standing in the back of the room readying a hex aimed at Aria. In his haste to stop the Genlock mage, he hit with a smite. Aria saw him use the templar ability and felt her mana asphyxiate - it was not lyrium fueled like a normal templar attack - but it had still drained all her mana. Alistair decapitated the last Hurlock and ran over to her; the flames had destroyed her robes and burnt her badly. Before falling unconscious she had said only one word to him: Templar.

They climbed another flight of stairs; they were almost at the top of the tower. Alistair had fallen silent, reflecting on his actions; he could have killed Aria - _If I were a templar, she probably would have died_ he thought, smothering his face in his hands. As Aria opened the door, they were greeted with the sight on an Ogre munching on a soldier's remains. Aria readied her staff and Alistair drew his sword, bashing it against his shield to draw the Ogre's attention. The Ogre turned to them and roared, saliva flying from its mouth. Aria clutched her head and screamed; she felt like her head was splitting open.

_"What happened? I heard screaming! What did you do?"_

_"She was in pain and Mother healed her."_

_"Go outside, boy. It's not over yet, I'm afraid."_

Aria sat in the darkness, picking her fingernails. Her magic lazily floated around her, glowing and dimming in time with her breaths. She could hear noises in the distance but they were unfamiliar to her. With each breath, her magic began to recede and she became aware of being awake. The smell of fresh wild grass and fish filled her senses, her stomach twisted into painful knots to remind her hungry she was. Aria knew her mouth was watering and she prayed that she wasn't drooling.

"Ah, your eyes finally open! Mother shall be pleased." A young woman with black hair tied back in a bun stood beside the bed, warning Aria not to move. The warning came too late; Aria had tried to sit up. A small red stain seeped through the bandages around her stomach and a white-hot pain seared through her; Aria hissed and lay back on the bed, "I had just bandaged your wounds."

The young woman stayed with Aria as hours turned into days; Aria tried to remember what had happened before she woke in the cottage but she was only able to recall bits and pieces. She had asked the young woman numerous questions: Was the army victorious? How did she get to the cottage? Where was she?

Was Alistair still alive?

The young woman introduced herself as Morrigan. She handed Aria a bowl of broth and told her what had happened at Ostagar, Aria lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. The Ferelden army was able to hold off the horde that approached the vanguard. But their reinforcements never arrived; the army had been abandoned.

Morrigan - in her wolf form – ran through the Wilds. Flemeth had warded their cottage from the darkspawn and sent her to scout ahead. Flemeth had been cryptic in her reasons for sending her to watch the Wardens who were at the Tower of Ishal, but Morrigan was used to it; Flemeth was always cryptic.

Morrigan ran up a hill and skidded to a halt. A sea of darkspawn marched through the valley below, roaring and laughing. Morrigan stepped back a few paces to give herself a running start, she raced forward and leapt off the edge. She watched as the darkspawn raised their weapons to attack her. She paid them no mind as she changed into an eagle and surged upwards. She flapped her wings and rocketed towards the battlefield. She swooped around the field and saw the darkspawn clashing with the army. She glided into an air current, letting it lift her high above the field, the heavy rainfall made it difficult to fly around on her own. She swooped again; a group of soldiers led by a redheaded woman ran out from behind the wooden barricade. Her shield was raised and she bashed it into a Genlock, tossing him aside as she sank her blade deep into a Hurlock's neck, ripping the blade out of the Hurlock in time to parry another blade. She surged upwards as a fire was lit atop the tower. Morrigan circled the tower twice before landing on the roof; from her position she could see an army at least a thousand men strong, standing ready to flank the darkspawn. But instead of charging through the trees to aid their fellow soldiers, they marched off.

Morrigan heard a scream from within the room below her. She jumped off the roof and swooped onto a window ledge. A dozen darkspawn had ambushed the two Wardens, the male one had been stabbed through his breastplate twice and left to bleed out. The female Warden, however, intrigued Morrigan. She had placed herself between the dying warrior and the group of darkspawn, she had summoned a force field in front of her to hold the darkspawn at bay while she tried to heal the warrior's wound. Morrigan watched as the Warden Mage released a fireball upon the darkspawn without dropping the force field or breaking her healing on the warrior, _few can cast their spells on will alone_, she mused. She saw the mage was bleeding and her foot looked to be broken. Morrigan knew the mage was being reckless but couldn't help admiring the girl. Morrigan returned to her normal form as a Shriek appeared behind the female Warden, ramming its claws into her back, forcing the mage to drop the force field. An Ogre charged forward, tackling the mage into a wall and knocking her out. Morrigan hit the Ogre with horror and sent it after the other darkspawn.

As if on cue, Flemeth swooped in and scooped up the two Wardens in her talons. Morrigan would never admit it, but she was a little jealous of her mother's ability to change into a giant bird. As Morrigan flew out of the tower, she saw a man slide off an Ogre's chest. She looked away when an armored Hurlock, with its axe raised, charged towards the man.

Aria stared at her broth, it had gone cold. She had listened to everything Morrigan said to her. She felt numb; the army was decimated, the Warden ware all dead – Duncan was dead. The King was dead. Morrigan knew she was not one for subtlety, but felt it only right that she spared the two Grey Wardens the details of what the darkspawn had done after their rescue.

Aria handed Morrigan the bowl of broth and pulled the covers aside. Her legs were bruised – black, blue and red – and bandaged, probably broken; and the rest of her was not much better. She placed her hand over her stomach and weaved her magic through the wound, mending herself. She knew some of her organs were bruised and she felt lucky nothing had ruptured. Aria winced as her ribs cracked back into place, one at a time. She inhaled sharply as one of her lungs re-inflated; she choked and coughed up blood. Aria felt her magic mending the muscles in her stomach - reattaching and tightening them then focused on the wounds. Aria had one almost completely sealed when she ran out of mana.

She sat up, carefully moving her legs off the bed and grabbed her staff. Taking a few quick breaths in preparation for the coming pain Aria stood up, resting her weight on her staff. She cried out as everything within her flared angrily, racked with pain. Alistair burst into cottage, panic clearly etched onto his face. Aria could see his armor lying on the ground by a fire outside. Alistair scooped her up and placed her back on the bed. He dropped to his knees beside her, holding her hand firmly in his.

"You're alive!" Alistair leaned back and checked her over, taking stock of her injuries. Aria wanted to protest being bedridden for so long but saw his eyes were glistening, red and puffy, and decided against it; "Thank the Maker!"

Aria nodded and noticed that Alistair was only in linen trousers, he was shirtless save the bandages wrapped around his left shoulder and ribs. Morrigan cleared her throat and Aria looked down at herself, bandages aside, she was only in her small clothes. Heat rose through Alistair, turning his cheeks and ears red. Aria assumed that he had just realized their situation. He quickly retreated a few steps and smothered his face with his hands. Aria couldn't help but giggle when he stammered out an apology and tried to flee the cabin while his eyes were still covered - bumping into the wall. Morrigan rolled her eyes as Alistair opened the door and flung himself outside.

"As you can see, your friend lives." Morrigan turned to Aria and handed her clean robes. Aria admired the earthly colors and the simplicity of the design; " His injuries were severe, but nothing in comparison to yours. I've told him of your battle, he did not take it well." Morrigan noticed Aria unfastening the robes; "I will wait outside."

"Wait!" Aria reached out for Morrigan and took a sharp breath. Moving was still very painful for her; "That is, um.. I need your help...Please."

Morrigan gave an exasperated sigh and clicked her tongue. Aria blushed as Morrigan touched her legs, pouring her will into numbing them before she helped Aria to her feet and pulled the robes over her head, lifting her arms to reach the sleeves. Aria tried to stifle her moans and groans while Morrigan fastened the buckle on her fur pauldrons. Morrigan had helped her into the robes quickly but it had been rather painful.

"Thank you, Morrigan." Aria leaned on her staff, flustered and sore.

"I... You are welcome." Morrigan placed a pair of tanned leather boots before her, "though I am no healer, you have seen the extent of my abilities."

Aria carefully lowered herself onto the bed while Morrigan strode out of the cottage. She grabbed a boot, clutching her side and sending a stream of healing magic to ease the pain. Aria swore under her breath as Alistair entered.

He saw Aria cradling her head in her hands and the pair of boots before her. He carefully approached her; his eyes never left her as he knelt down to pick up the boot, she never moved. Alistair unfastened the boot and placed it on her foot; letting go of her ankle when she flinched. He caught her watching him from behind her hand. Aria watched as he smiled at her, his expression was soft and sincere, _almost bashful_, she thought. She barely noticed when he fastened the boot to her leg. He carefully lifted her other foot onto his thigh and unfastened the other boot. Her foot twitched when his hand grazed against it, Alistair immediately recoiled his hand.

He searched her face for any signs of discomfort, instead he saw her nibbling her bottom lip and smiling. "That.. tickled." Aria explained when she noticed Alistair's raised eyebrow.

He nodded and continued to fasten the boot to her leg. He returned her foot to the ground and stood up. Aria gratefully accepted his hand when he offered to help her stand. Keeping a hold of her hand, Alistair knelt and grabbed her staff. Aria's eyes widened in disbelief when he handed it to her.

"But you're a templar..." Aria accidentally voiced her thoughts.

Alistair ignored her statement; "I thought you were dead for sure." His eyes darkened, "I saw that Shriek..." Aria heard his voice waver, "and the Ogre..." Alistair took a deep breath; "I'm glad you're ok."

Aria smiled warmly at him and he helped her out to the fire. A woman, wizened far beyond years, stood by the lake; "See, your friend lives. You worry too much, boy."

The woman walked over and placed her hands on Aria's thighs. Aria felt the woman's magic flow through her legs; her bones were strengthened, tendons and muscles fused together and relaxed, the bruises disappeared and feeling in her legs was restore, "it took time, but the darkspawn did nothing I could not fix."

"Thank you." Aria stretched out her legs, enjoying the feeling.

"Do not thank me, dear." the woman nodded at Morrigan who disappeared within the hut, returning moment later with several large, very old, scrolls; "I saved you both because only you can hope to stop this Blight now."

"But how? I mean, we'd need to kill the Archdemon but..." Alistair ran his hands through his blonde hair, "We'd need and army and I don't know how- How did you get these?" The woman handed Alistair the scrolls. A Grey Warden seal stamped on each one.

"I have kept them safe." The woman replied.

"These are Warden treaties!" Alistair exclaimed; "We can use these to gather allies against the Blight. Thank you.. Um... What do we call you?"

"My name? I've had many in my time." The woman smiled wistfully; "the Chasind folk call me 'Flemeth'... I suppose that will do."

"Then thank you, Flemeth." Aria spoke quickly. She had read many legends of Flemeth while in the Tower. If any were remotely true, then upsetting the woman was unwise, to say the least; "for everything, truly. If you would allow us to remain one more night, we would be eternally grateful."

"As I said, it was not without reason. I have protected your treaties from harm. I would ask you do me the same courtesy." Flemeth looked at her cottage, Morrigan was within preparing dinner; "when you leave, I ask you take Morrigan with you. Her magic will serve you well, and she will be far safer by your side."

Alistair opened his mouth to comment, but Aria had already agreed to the condition. Flemeth walked inside the cottage as Morrigan appeared with two bowls of stew. The Wardens took the bowls and slurped down the stew. Morrigan begrudgingly fetched them another bowlful of stew while they read over the treaties.

Flemeth and Morrigan had retired for the night. The two Wardens wondered how deep into the Wilds they were. A slight breeze dragged along the lake, sending small ripples through the water. The fire began to die, Alistair tossed logs onto it, hoping to bring it back to life. He turned the log around above the flames, waiting for it to catch. He placed the log down and sighed - he would have to rebuild the fire. He stacked several log atop one another and stuffed twigs, leaves and foliage into the pile. While he knelt aside to dig around in his pack, the fire roared to life. Alistair gasped and looked over at Aria. Her fingers were entwined in her hair, holding it back so she could tie it in place, half of her body was silhouetted in shadow but her eyes glistened orange from the fire. Alistair felt his skin prickle and his stomach squirm pleasurably under her gaze. _Maker she's... She's a Grey Warden!_ he mentally chastised himself.

"Do you really think we can do this," Alistair cleared his throat, snapping bits off a twig, "gather allies and defeat the Blight?"

"I don't see why not," Aria called forth another healing spell, pushing the magic into her head. She had been healing both her and Alistair all night. They were almost fully healed, "that's what Grey Wardens do, right?"

"We should go to the Arl of Redcliffe," Alistair turned to Aria, she saw a different kind of pain etched into his features; "He wasn't at Ostagar and will still have all his men. He needs to know of the Teyrn's betrayal."

"And you think the Arl will help us?" Aria released the healing magic and sat up. She pulled her knees up to her chest and fondled Cullen's amulet; "without proof of our claims?"

"He will believe us," Alistair was winding his fingers around each other; "He is King Cailan's uncle. He has to."

Aria nodded and settled into the bedding Flemeth had loaned her, "then we will go. Goodnight Alistair."

Alistair watched her shuffle around in the bedding. He was exhausted but could not bring himself to sleep; "Goodnight..." He stared at the flames as they crackled and popped against the night. Alistair got up and walked alongside the lake, when he was far enough away from Aria he fell to his knees and cried. For the first time since Morrigan told him of Loghain's betrayal, he wept for his fallen comrades, for his King and for Duncan.


	4. Traitors

Alistair didn't know how long he wept by the lake, he wasn't sure he cared. His eyes were heavy and sore from crying, his throat was raw, his breathing labored, and his heart broken. Alistair sat by the lake listening to water gently roll against the shoreline, a soft orange glow broke from the horizon. It would be daylight soon. He thought about the treaties and gathering allies. He had been so eager, so confident about the task but now he couldn't help but doubt. _Would it be as simple as walking up and demanding aid?_ He wondered, _will they take us seriously? _

The crackling of a new fire caught his attention. Alistair splashed water from the lake onto his face and slapped his cheeks a few times. The water felt warm and Alistair realized just how cold he was without his armour. He walked back towards the cottage and stopped; Aria had the treaties laid out before her. Alistair stood quietly, watching as Aria combed her fingers through her hair and sighed. Alistair felt a pang of guilt; he'd forgotten that she had never left the Tower before.

"This would be much easier if I actually _knew _where things were." Aria complained to herself, Alistair couldn't help but smirk; "'We should go to the Arl of Redcliffe...' as if I know where that is – somewhere across Lake Calenhad, I think." Aria imitated Alistair's comment and sighed again.

"You will help me right, Cullen?" Alistair perked up at the name; Aria was speaking to her amulet and clutching it close to her chest, "One of these treaties are for the Circle, if we go there first maybe he can tell me where next to go."

Alistair walked over to Aria, clearing his throat as he approached. Aria quickly tucked the amulet into her clothes and smiled weakly at Alistair. She shuffled over so he could sit on the furs by the fire. Alistair held his hands out, alternating between rubbing his hands together and warming them. Aria watched the sky – orange, yellow, purple, pink and blue stretched up from the rising sun, chasing away the darkness.

"So this is a sunrise... pretty." Aria mused. Alistair nodded knowingly, sitting there with Aria, it was peaceful, and he somehow felt better. Alistair watched Aria admire the sunrise and he felt a strange warmth spread through his chest making him smile; being there with her, he could almost pretend Ostagar never happened; "I need to know something, Alistair."

Alistair hummed in response, digging through his pack. He pulled out a small loaf of bread and tore it in half, handing some to Aria; then grabbed the waterskin. Aria picked at the bread while she figured out how best to ask her question. Alistair took a bite of his bread, enjoying the moment.

"I'm a mage and you're a Templar," Aria picked at her bread, and Alistair watched her carefully, he could feel the atmosphere changing, the moment disappearing; "Are you, I mean that is... will we..." Aria hesitated and rubbed her temples; "Are you going to force me back into the Circle?" It wasn't what she wanted to ask, but it was a starting point.

"What? No, you're a Grey Warden," Alistair placed his bread on the furs and shifted to face her, Aria kept her head down unwilling to look at him; "You don't belong to the Circle anymore. Besides, I'm –"

Before he could finish, Morrigan and Flemeth exited the cottage. Morrigan had a pack slung over her shoulder. Aria started putting her boots on; Alistair groaned inwardly and rolled his eyes, their moment of peace was gone.

"Dear, sweet mother; How kind of you to cast me out of our home." Morrigan seethed as she stalked out of the cottage.

"Bah! You have been itching to get out of the wilds for years, girl. This is your chance." Flemeth lectured; "Besides, these two must – alone - unite the lands and defeat the Blight. They will need your help more than you need the Wilds."

Morrigan was surprised by the comments and looked as though she was about to say something but conceded the point and kept quiet. Aria had finished packing up the bedding and Alistair fumbled with his armour. Flemeth took the bedding back into the cottage, Alistair grabbed his pack and killed the fire. Morrigan suggested the trio venture towards a small village north of the Wilds since they would be in need of more supplies. Aria held out her left hand, signalling Morrigan to lead the way.

It was high noon when the trio reached the outskirts of Lothering. Aria looked on in disgust at the state of the village: shanty tents were pitched in the mud and dirt along the outskirts of the town housing refugees. As they walked along the Imperial Highway they were stopped by a group of people claiming to collecting revenue – 20 silvers - for the upkeep of the highway. Aria felt the situation was a little shady, _who would be trying to maintain the highway during a Blight?_ She wondered, yet felt around for the coin. Alistair took her hand and shook his head as he drew his sword. Morrigan unclasped her staff and told Aria that they were bandits. Aria left her purse alone, feeling slightly foolish.

The bandits drew their weapons and lunged for the group. Alistair had pulled Aria back behind him and punched a bandit in the face; buying himself time to grab his shield. Morrigan spun her staff above her head and slammed it into the ground – a strong pulse erupted from her staff stunning several bandits around her. She took the chance to run back a few paces and freeze the heavy hitters of the group. Aria weaved an arcane bolt and threw it at an archer, knocking his bow from his hands and sending him flying. As Morrigan's spell began to thaw, Aria trapped one of the bandits in a crushing prison.

Morrigan ran over to one of the fallen bandits and touched his forehead. She stood back as the bandit stood and attacked his former comrades. The lead bandit took great offense to Morrigan using their dead against them and ran towards her. She managed to block his swings with her staff and swung her staff as hard as she could between his legs. He cried out and dropped to the ground and retched. Morrigan swung her staff 360 degrees, landing a blow against the lead bandits' head. He sprawled out on the ground unconscious and Morrigan laughed heartily.

Aria summoned a grease slick beneath the bandits' feet. They lost balance and started sliding around and falling over. Aria snapped her fingers and the grease ignited, burning the bandits. Aria froze the flames and the bandits in place just as Alistair came over and hit the ice as hard as he could with his shield; shattering the ice sculpture into a million pieces. Alistair noticed a pile of corpses thrown into a wagon, one of them wore templar armour. He walked over to the wagon. Morrigan and Aria walked over to the unconscious leader and tied his hands together. When he woke, Aria demanded he leave everything he'd stolen. The leader readily agreed and begged to be let go.

Morrigan stunned the bandit with a mental blast and Alistair carried him over to a group of Templars within the village. Morrigan went off to find supplies while Aria took the stolen goods to the refugees. As she approached the squalor that the refugees lived in, she was swarmed by the refugees. They grabbed at the goods, crying and thanking her profusely. Some of them offered her small tokens as payment; Aria held a hand up in refusal and smiled at them. She placed the crate on the ground and stepped away, giving the refugees a chance to grab their belongings. Aria walked up the main path towards the village, stopping short as three Templars walked towards her talking to one another.

"There are reports of an apostate family living near the ravine. Have the reports been investigated?" The middle Templar asked.

"Yes Knight-Corporal, Ser Jaren investigated a week ago. He said there was nothing unusual." The Templar on the left responded.

"I can sense magic. There are definitely apostates in this village. Find them!" the Knight-Corporal ordered. Aria watched as the two Templars bowed and walked towards the Chantry.

Aria peered out over a small hedge and released a breath she didn't know she was holding. She had hidden from the Templars in a nearby garden. She stood and clutched here amulet, silently begging her magic to be dormant while the templars were searching for apostates. While the Knight-Corporal had his back turned to her, Aria hastily walked past him and fled over the bridge leading to another refugee camp. An older woman walked over to Aria, offering her healing and shelter. Aria frowned slightly at the old woman; she was frail and coughing violently. She smiled and offered to assist the older woman instead, giving her 5 healing potions and agreeing to make more while she waited for her companions. The old woman hobbled around distributing the potions amongst the needy while Aria walked over to a small well. She grabbed a small metal mixing bowl and set it to one side then pulled several stalks of elfroot from her pack. A refugee child knelt beside her with a small worn mortar and pestle and began crushing the torn pieces of elfroot for Aria.

Alistair walked out of the Chantry with a busted lip and bloodied nose. The bandit had woken up as they reached the Knight-Lieutenant and he put up a fight. He'd elbowed Alistair in the face and one of the Templars accidentally killed the bandit leader during the scuffle though Alistair suspected that it was deliberate. As he walked past the Chanters Board, he saw two men from Loghain's garrison speaking to a Templar. They pointed towards the bridge and the Templar beckoned for the two Templars standing between a merchant and a cloistered sister to join them. Alistair looked in the direction they were pointing and saw a refugee camp; he didn't think much of it until Aria walked into view carrying an armful of injury kits and poultices. He felt his chest constrict. Alistair shot a glance at the group of men and made an inconspicuous break for the bridge. Morrigan walked over to Aria and grabbed her arm and gently but firmly pulled her away from the camp, mumbling that only mages and the tranquil could make potions as they headed towards the ravine. Alistair caught up to the girls' at the same time as two warriors.

"Stop!" one of the warriors called out to the girls. Aria tried to stop but Morrigan held her arm firmly, dragging her along. Aria heard the metal of swords singing as they were unsheathed. An armored man flanked the group, sword drawn. Morrigan and Aria stopped, pinned between the two warriors.

"Tha's them, serrah." A young refugee stood beside the warriors; "them's the ones that match your description."

"Well, well. Get a load of this." The warrior pointed his sword at Aria and Alistair; "female mage, black hair, blue eyes and male warrior blonde hair, brown eyes. Haven't we been looking for these two all morning?"

"That we have," a second warrior appeared before them; "these ones are Grey Wardens. Traitors! They killed the King." He threw a purse of coin at the refugee girl and she scurried away.

The two warriors yelled at the group, Aria felt slightly intimidated but unclasped her staff anyway. More armored men appeared from the camp, surrounding the group. Morrigan slammed her staff against the ground, stunning the men and the group fled to an open field, away from the refugees. Some children poking fun of a giant trapped within a cage saw the group of armed men and fled. The giant stood stoically and watched. Alistair stood between the group and the mages. Aria summoned a swarm of bees, wasps and hornets; aiming them at her opponents. Morrigan trapped the two main warriors in a horror dream and let them loose on their squad. Alistair stood ready for anyone who survived the magical assault. When only one remained, Aria walked up to him defiantly and whispered in his ear; the warrior blanched and ran from the village as fast as he could. Aria noticed the giant still staring at her from the cage, she watched him for a moment before walking over.

"Why do you stare at me?" Aria questioned him.

"They called you 'Grey Warden'." The giant responded stoically.

"It is what I am." Aria nodded and watched as a villager spoke to Alistair and Morrigan, pulling them into a shanty house.

"My people have heard stories of your Grey Wardens," The giant deliberately moved his head as he appraised her, Aria felt uncomfortable under his gaze; "Great warriors without equal. You cannot be one."

"Why not?" Aria tried to hide the hurt in her voice.

"You are Bas Saarebas," the giant responded plainly.

Aria wanted to ask the giant what he had called her but was cut off by two templars approaching her. She backed away from the cage, getting ready to run when she felt the fade warp violently around her. She felt her mana disappear, leaving her with a hollow and empty feeling. Her magic had been silenced. One of the Templars grabbed Aria before she could flee, crushing her arms against her and covered her mouth. The giant stood silently.

"An apostate fleeing from Templars, we should drag you back to the Circle." The second templar punched her hard in the stomach; she doubled over, tears sprang to her eyes and her cries were muffled by the gauntlet; "But you are a Grey Warden, and I hear they killed the King."

Aria watched as the Templar pulled a vial of pearl-gold serum from his skirt pouch. The hand covering her mouth shifted her throat. Aria started to struggle against the Templar. Too many times had she seen Templars carry that serum around in the tower; too many times had she suffered because of it. Aria sucked in a breath to scream. The Templar backhanded her hard across the face to shut her up. Aria saw stars burst before her eyes and felt his gauntlet tear into her skin, reducing her scream for help to a whimper. Still seeing stars, she didn't struggle much against the two templars as they held her head in place and forced the serum down her throat. One of the Templars roughly massaged her throat until she reflexively swallowed the serum.

"Mages needs to learn their place. Warden or not, a mage helped kill the King. We'll make an example of you." Aria felt her body go limp, supported only by the Templar holding her. The stinging on her cheek felt distant and her vision went hazy as the Templars carried her away from the village.

She vaguely felt the Templars drop her on a grassy hill. Aria tried to open her eyes, her eyelids were heavy and her vision still terribly blurred. The two Templars looked like silver blobs. She tried to speak but her tongue was numb and her cheek sent ripples of fiery pain across her face. The two Templars were speaking but they sounded muffled and distant. Aria allowed her eyes to close; she would go to her happy place until it was over then when she was able, she would clean herself up and pretend it never happened.

She lay there as the Templars tore into her robes, she didn't fight the fog that threatened to cloud her mind. She felt a heavy weight crush her hand, breaking two fingers. She heard a strangled moan escape her lips. One of the Templars punched her in the stomach again – punishment for making noise. Aria succumbed to the fog and was barely conscious when one of the Templars gurgled and fell beside her.

"I don't know where she could've gone. We weren't gone that long, surely." Alistair and Morrigan walked back to the caged giant, he stared into the distance chanting in a strange language.

"You forget that your fellow Grey Warden is newly free. Tis a big world, she could've gotten lost." Morrigan chided, "If it concerns you so, don't leave her alone."

"The bas Saarebas was taken by her Arvaarad – they called themselves 'Templar', no doubt to be contained." The giant informed them before returning to his chant, "They should have simply killed her."

"What are you, creature?" Morrigan demanded.

"I am Sten of the Beresaad." The giant stared at her, his expression blank.

"Where did they take Aria?" Alistair gripped the cage; he couldn't bear the thought of being the last Grey Warden in Ferelden, "She's a Warden, they can't take her anywhere. I won't let them."

"And yet she is gone," Sten stated, "Let them kill her, there are too many of her kind running free in this village. They are dangerous."

"I'll free you," Alistair bargained, they were wasting time; "Tell me where they took her, and I'll free you - on my honor as a Grey Warden."

Sten groaned at Alistair and shook his head, "They took her down that path."

Alistair raced out of Lothering towards the other side of the Imperial Highway. He knew the Templars would take Aria to the Circle which was at least a week from Lothering. Alistair willed his legs to move faster, his arms pumped by his sides. Morrigan had changed into a bird and taken to the skies, he hoped she would be able to find Aria faster with such a vantage point. Alistair saw Morrigan bank right and plummet to the ground behind a hill. He ran past the Lothering mill and wheat fields, turning right when he reached the ravine.

A cloistered sister crouched over Aria oblivious to the appearance of Morrigan and Alistair. She carefully smeared a white paste over Aria's cheek and set her broken fingers, winding a bandage around her right hand. Alistair saw two slain Templars lying on the ground, one on his side facing Aria and the other faced down in the mouth of the ravine with two daggers lodged in the back of his breastplate. Bemused, Alistair wondered if the sister killed the Templars alone.

"It used to be a Templars duty to protect mages," the cloistered sister criticized, her voice heavy with an Orlesian accent, she held out her arm towards Alistair while obscuring his view of Aria; "She isn't decent; pass me something to cover her."

The sister turned her head slightly and eyed the duo expectantly. Morrigan looked at Alistair and he simply shrugged. Morrigan rolled her eyes and threw her hands into the air, declaring she would collect something from Lothering. Alistair walked towards Aria; the sister snapped her fingers and waved him away. He shifted his weight from one foot to another and scratched the nape of his neck. The sister returned to tending to Aria's wounds. Alistair grunted and decided to set camp.

Alistair leaned back to admire his handy work. The fire crackled quietly in the middle of the camp, two bedrolls were near the fire with another set up by Aria. Morrigan returned from Lothering with new clothes for Aria and food enough for everyone. Alistair took the food from Morrigan happy to distract himself with the cooking. The sister thanked Morrigan for the clothes and began to dress the still sleeping mage. Morrigan took a bowl of stew from Alistair and walked to the edge of the hill to keep watch. Alistair filled two more bowls and walked over to the sister.

"How is she?" Alistair handed the sister a bowl and sat down beside her. Aria hadn't stirred since they found her.

"Hard to say," The sister blew on the stew crinkling her nose at the smell and took a tentative sip; "I'm not an expert on such things." The sister placed her empty bowl to the side and stood up. She patted down her robes and ripped the daggers from the Templar's back, wiping the blades on his skirt; "you should rest for now, I'll watch over her."

Alistair nodded and walked back to his bedroll. He removed his armor and laid back to watch the stars. Morrigan had started a second fire by the hillside, he couldn't help but wonder why she wanted the isolation. He hadn't realized he'd gone to sleep until the cloistered sister shook his should gently, rousing him from slumber. The fires had died down to embers and the sister spoke softly to him, fatigue evident in her voice. Alistair crawled out of the bedroll to let the sister rest. He revived the fire and took his vigil by Aria's side.

"What happened?" He whispered softly, touching his fingertips against the white paste covered cheek and gently taking her broken hand in his, running him thumb over her bandaged knuckles; "what did they do to you?"

A strangled moan escaped Aria's lips. Alistair watched intently as she turned her head slightly to the right but bore no signs of waking. _At least she's alive_, he reasoned. The light from the fire was minimal but he was still able to make out bruising on her neck and jaw line. Alistair carefully shifted her head to get a better look. His hand hovered above her neck and realization dawned on him. Alistair ripped off his brown leather glove and gently laid his hand over the bruise - a handprint - the fingertip impressions were sharper and the outline was thicker, _they tried to strangle her?_ Alistair thought as he stared at the Templar corpses. Whatever he thought he had felt for the fallen Templars, it had vanished. Somewhere deep within him, Alistair could almost justify their deaths.

Aria opened her right eye slowly, Alistair held his breath as she slowly lifted her hands to the left side of her face - the white paste kept that eye glued shut. He watched as she peeled it away inch by inch to reveal her swollen and battered face, Alistair looked away, ashamed; the wounds were no longer bleeding but he knew that there was a good chance they'd scar. Aria gently prodded her ribs, wincing occasionally. She noticed Alistair had returned to watching her and she faintly, a silent sign to him that nothing was broken. He was disgusted - angry - with himself. _For all her magic, she is still a woman - unskilled in melee combat! If she had died..._ he chastised himself. While Aria continued to assess the damage, Alistair promised himself he would take better care of his comrades.

Alistair tried to help her as she stood but Aria held him at a distance. He furrowed his eyebrows and frowned at her. She clutched her ribs and walked over to the camp to heat herself some of the stew, accidentally waking the cloistered sister.

"Ah! You're awake, that is good." Aria bit the corner of her bottom lip and nodded stiffly at the sister; "allow me to introduce myself. I'm Leliana." The sister sat up and bowed her head slightly.

Aria opened her mouth to speak squeaking painfully. She clutched her throat and gritted her teeth. Leliana handed Aria two small potions from the bag Aria pointed to and she drank them quickly, doing her best to ignore the burning sensation as she swallowed the lyrium potion. Leliana nodded in approval for Aria to call forth her healing magic. Alistair lingered in the background while Aria healed her throat, moving only when she asked him to bury the Templars.

"I heard you are Grey Wardens" Leliana began, Aria raised her eyebrows at the sister as she drank the stew carefully; "I would like to join you."

"We are going to try and end the Blight. Not exactly something that can be beaten with prayers alone, sister." It hurt Aria to speak even after the healing, her voice was hoarse and strained.

"I have other skills that will benefit you, _please..." _Leliana crawled over to Aria and took hold of her uninjured hand; "it is the will of the Maker, I've seen it."

Aria stared sceptically at the redhead. Part of her wanted nothing to do with the Chantry and Templars but the rational part of her knew that they would need all the help they could get and allies would be difficult to come by while they were branded traitors; "I welcome your support, Leliana."


	5. Lothering Falls

p class="MsoNormal"Leliana stood confidently by Aria's side as she had all morning. The air had been thick with something - tension, angst - she wasn't sure but Aria had made a point of staying near her whenever Alistair was around. Alistair, having also picked up on it, had taken to walking ahead of the group. Morrigan lingered behind, uninterested in the childish quarrel. Leliana watched as Aria would avert her eyes when Alistair turned his head back to them; his gaze would linger on the mage before turning back to the road ahead, their antics made her giggle to herself. Noticing that the group were headed straight for the Qunari's cage, Leliana pulled them aside and explained that he had slaughtered an entire family and had been sentenced to death – if one could call being locked in a cage and left to the mercy of darkspawn suchem - /em by the Chantry, a sentence she did not entirely agree with. Morrigan, much to Alistiar's surprise, elected to release Sten, stating a warrior of the Qunari Beresaad would be invaluable to their quest, if not to release him out of mercy. /p  
p class="MsoNormal""My companions tell me that you are part of the Beresaad," Aria spoke as she approached the cage, ignoring the petty squabbling behind her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I will amuse you no more than the others, leave me in peace." Sten remarked coldly./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I once read that the Beresaad are great warriors of the Qunari," Aria continued, dismissing his comment; "I find myself in need of skilled help with defeating the Blight. Help, perhaps from such a skilled warrior?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria saw Sten's eyes widen slightly, the only hint of surprise on his stoic features. He nodded stiffly at her, frowning slightly when her face lit up with delight. Aria turned to her companions, asking Alistair and Leliana to speak with the Revered Mother about releasing Sten to the Grey Wardens. Alistair looked as though he were about to say something until Leliana took his arm, all but dragging him away. Aria promised that she would return shortly and ran off over the bridge to the only halfway decent merchant in Lothering./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Two hours later, they regrouped by Sten's cage. According to Leliana, the Revered Mother was not happy about giving up the key but understood that the Blight needed to be stopped, no matter what. Aria dragged a broadsword through the dirt. She had purchased him some heavy armor for Sten as he did not seem the type to wear anything light. She dropped her burden unceremoniously by her feet and wiped perspiration from her brow. Sten looked at her unimpressed by her lack of physical strength, Aria shrugged innocently and walked away from the gear./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Just as Sten clasped the broadsword to his back Aria felt a frantic scratching in her head, getting louder by the second. She turned to Alistair and he nodded at her, he could hear it too. Villagers fled past them, screaming and crying as a wave of darkspawn poured into the village from the Wilds. Leliana took her daggers from Aria and everyone ran against the fleeing crowd./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria began to call her magic forth, intending to ball it into her hands and throw it at Alistair, Sten and Leliana as they charged past her to engage the enemies, but nothing appeared, she panicked and fled to Morrigan's side. Alistair and Sten both roared at the group of darkspawn. The darkspawn broke apart, unsure of which warrior to attack first. Leliana disappeared from Aria's sight for a moment, reappearing behind a Genlock; she sank her blades deep into the Genlock's back and tore them outwards, flaying the darkspawn. It roared in pain and turned around; Leliana had tossed the hilt of her dagger slightly for a better grip and beheaded the beast. Laughing, she turned her attention to the next darkspawn. Morrigan stayed back with Aria, flinging spells with deadly precision. Several darkspawn were radiating a sickly green color, Leliana struck one and it exploded; severely wounding and infecting several more darkspawn./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair did his best to stay close to Aria while keeping the darkspawn as far from her as he could. He swung his shield with great force, feeling the satisfying crunch of it making contact with a darkspawn face. He thrust his sword outwards and upwards, severing a Hurlock's arm from its torso, yelling at Aria to help him out as he brought his shield up to block an incoming mace. Just as the mace touched his shield the Hurlock was frozen solid, wasting no time Alistair swung his sword cutting the Hurlock in two. He heard Sten's battle cry and he froze, trapped by magic; Sten swung his around in a giant arc, the darkspawn around him were torn asunder. Alistair watched as Sten's sword flew past him, connecting with a magical force field. Sten staggered slightly and repositioned himself swinging his broadsword upwards, catching an armored Hurlock off guard. /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair felt the spell dissipate and he looked at Aria. She did not make eye contact as she dropped her hands and cast another shield around herself, emhow does she have such control without a staff/em he wondered. Four darkspawn had her surrounded, they screeching and laughed and bashed their weapons against her shield. Alistair saw Aria shut her eyes tight to concentrate; he assumed that using her magic without a staff was taking its toll. He joined Morrigan and Leliana who had run over to aid Aria, the three of them making short work of the darkspawn. Aria waited until the others had turned their attention to other darkspawn before dropping her shield. She felt an ethereal resonance on her back and turned to look at the town; houses were on fire, corpses lined the street and there seemed to be no end to the darkspawn. The town was lost. br / /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria focused on the ethereal sensation and called her magic through it, drawing her magic from the fade itself; willing it to manifest beyond her, beyond the town's borders. Although the town was lost there were still people who could be saved, they needed time to escape – she would give them that time. Aria felt her spirit falling through the veil and mingling with the fade as her magic left her in waves. She had never felt anything quite like it; it was strange but she couldn't tell if it was unpleasant or not./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria held her hands before her as she imagined a giant wall between the town and the darkspawn horde. White hot pain seared through her broken hand, she clenched her teeth together and focused on maintaining the barrier. Her heartbeat fluttered slightly and her stomach flipped and squirmed as she poured her magic into the barricade./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Get as many people out as you can!" Aria shouted at her companions, "I won't be able to hold this forever."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Morrigan and Leliana did as instructed running off to assist two dwarves that were being attacked by a smaller group of darkspawn. Sten and Alistair cut down the last of the darkspawn on their side of the barrier. Alistair rushed away to assist Leliana and Morrigan./p  
p class="MsoNormal""This town is lost, why defend it?" Sten asked, his tone was flat but Aria sensed that he was bitter./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm not defending the town Sten," Aria felt blood trickle from her nostrils; "I'm buying the villagers time to flee."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""You are a Grey Warden, are you not?" Sten returned the broadsword to his back and hoisted the mage over his shoulder; "It is your job to defeat the Blight, not die in a squaller."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sten ran with renewed purpose, Aria bounced heavily against his shoulder. The barricade faltered and the darkspawn poured into the town. Morrigan cast several glyphs to cover their escape, Leliana and Alistair were already pursuing Sten. Aria continued to fling spells as best she could but her magic fizzled out and she fainted./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The group fled the village of Lothering with a number of other survivors. They heard the terrified screams as the darkspawn cut down the helpless, the frail and the slow. Morrigan transformed into a bird and flew ahead of the group, she banked left hard and /p  
p class="MsoNormal"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emAria stood alone against the darkspawn in Lothering. She held her arms out before her defiantly, maintaining her magical barrier. The darkspawn screeched and screamed at her, ramming themselves against the arcane wall. Aria felt nauseous as another wave of mana surged up her arms to reinforce the barrier. Suddenly the darkspawn stopped attacking the barrier and parted, forming a path. A darkspawn in full templar armor stood staring at Aria; his helmet obscured his face but Aria knew the Templar was scowling at her. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emShe heard a guttural roar as the Archdemon flew overhead. It landed behind her; the tremors it caused threw her off balance. Aria turned to look at the Archdemon, its head not three inches from her face. She stared into his endlessly black eyes and felt unnerved. The Templar sliced through her barrier with ease and marched over to her. The other darkspawn ran through the village kicking in doors, burning houses, killing men, capturing and dragging women back towards the Wilds./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emAria watched the Archdemon carefully, everything within her told her to run yet she forced herself to stay. She felt the Templar standing behind her but her gaze never left the dragon. The Archdemon's breath was hot and rancid – smelling of death, taint and ichor. The scratching in the back of her mind changed slightly; it almost sounded like it was speaking to her, calling to her taint. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emA heavy hand tugged at her shoulder, spinning her around./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em"You let them die, mage!" The Templar spat at her. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em"No!" Aria watched as a Hurlock mounted the severed heads' of her companions onto pikes, Genlocks laughed and danced around./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em"You do not deserve to be a Warden!" The Templar drew their sword. Aria tried to step away from them, bumping into the Archdemon. The Archdemon snorted startling Aria into sidestepping and tripping over her own feet./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em"No please, I..." Aria crawled backwards, scuffing her elbows in the dirt. The templar advanced on the mage; she narrowly avoided the blade as it pierced into the ground between her legs./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em"Your kind are dangerous! Evil!" the templar swung his sword again and again, each blow a near miss; "you deserve to die!"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"emThe Templar struck again hitting Aria's leg. She cried out in pain and blasted unweaved magic at the Templar. The templar blocked the spell but their helmet was blown off. Aria gasped at the Templar; he righted himself, his short dirty blonde hair was enough of a giveaway but Aria wanted to see for herself – she had to be sure. The Templar turned around, his eyes were dead - grey and glazed over, his face gaunt and decaying. Aria looked into his eyes as he sank the blade into her chest. /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"em"You failed them! You failed me!" He sneered triumphantly as her chest went still and her vision began to dim, "Now you will never fail anyone again." /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria bolted upright, her heart hammered against her chest and her breathing was ragged. She hastily patted herself down to check for injuries. When she felt none, she placed a hand over her heart and took several deep breaths. She was lying beneath a makeshift tent by a fire and was surrounded by neatly stacked potions and vials. A lyrium potion quietly bubbled over the fire. Her other companions stood around a fire in a second camp several meters away, Morrigan and Sten were walking around the area, pointing to various trees and discussing what Aria assumed was security measures, Leliana knelt by the fire keeping her back to Aria and Alistair was nowhere to be seen./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The dream left her feeling clammy and uncomfortable. Aria made her way to a small pond at the edge of the camp and knelt by the water. Rolling her sleeve up, Aria carefully put her hand into the water examining it and enjoying its coolness on her skin. When satisfied, she splashed some water onto her face and wiped her wet hands across the back of her neck. Out of habit, she clutched her amulet and listened to the wind kiss the water./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Cullen, I'm scared..." Aria spoke softly, closing her eyes to better imagine Cullen reassuring her. emYou are a very capable mage, Aria. You had the quickest, cleanest Harrowing I've ever seen. /emShe smiled to herself at the thought of Cullen./p  
p class="MsoNormal""How did you do it?" Alistair questioned his voice calm yet slightly intimidating./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Do what?" Aria didn't want to look at him, still scared from her dream./p  
p class="MsoNormal"br / "Turn the rain to ice at Ostagar, create a wall of impenetrable magic in Lothering; wield your magic without a staff. How do you have such power?" Aria remembered what dream Alistair had said; 'emyour kind are dangerous!'/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I don't know," Aria Your kind are dangerous! Evil!/em she mulled over dream Alistair's words./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair saw Aria wrap her arms around herself tucking her knees under her chin, making herself as small as possible. He moved to sit beside her but still gave her space. Aria stared at her broken hand, the pain she had suppressed during the attack on Lothering had returned with a vengeance but she refused to show it./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Why don't you heal yourself?" Alistair absentmindedly caressed the bandage, withdrawing when she flinched./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I cannot," Aria shifted her broken hand into her lap, wincing heavily at the movement./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Why not? I've seen you heal yourself before." Alistair gently pressed for information. Aria turned away from Alistair to hide her shame./p  
p class="MsoNormal""How can you not know why?" Aria watched the water, refusing to look at Alistair; "It is common practice for templars to block magic."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I know, but..." Alistair watched as Aria turned back to him, eyes downcast; "No Templar blocked your magic, I saw you use it in Lothering."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He watched her open and close her mouth several times in an attempt to speak but thinking better of it. He waited patiently for her to pick her words./p  
p class="MsoNormal""What you saw in Lothering was a fluke," Aria exhaled shakily, speaking slowly to carefully craft her excuse. A dull throbbing appeared in her head and the back of her eyes began to prickle; "They have a serum. It is designed to, um, prevent our bodies producing mana and block willpower."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She felt Alistair go rigid but Aria kept her gaze firmly on the rippling water. He shifted, uncomfortable in his armor and took a deep breath, anticipating her words yet hoping she never spoke them./p  
p class="MsoNormal""They used it to emdeal/em with the more troublesome mages - the ones who could recover from a Templar assault easily enough," Aria continued, slowly returning her broken hand to sit atop her knees; "It is harder to recover from the serum and most of the time the recovery is only temporary. You were never told of it?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair felt a chill run through to his core and he felt sick. He felt Aria's words had an implied meaning, causing too many distressing scenarios to run through his head and the thought he attached to each one was: How many times had they used to serum to 'deal' with her?/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria watched from the corner of her eye as Alistair's faced paled - sinking through several shades of white - before he took another breath; "I'm not a Templar."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"His words caught her by surprise. She had almost suspected as much but could not - would not - take the risk of assuming and she had been far too afraid of the answer to ask. Aria didn't acknowledge his statement instead, relaxing her grip around her knees and returned to watching the tiny ripples in the lake. Alistair removed his left gauntlet and ripped off his leather glove, holding his exposed hand out to her as a silent gesture of proof./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I was conscripted into the Grey Wardens before I finished my training and took my vows." Aria looked at his open hand then met his eyes; "I swear to you I am not one of them. I would never harm you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria gently took his hand in hers. His fingers flinched ever so slightly at her touch, her fingers were cold against his calloused skin. She ran her fingers along his and traced the lines along his palm. Sensing no trace of lyrium or mana within him, she placed her hand flat against his. She felt something stir within her and she pulled her hand back, almost immediately regretting it though she wasn't sure why. Alistair unconsciously missed her touch as he pulled his glove back on, shielding his hand from the chill that had settled around them./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I will do my best to remember that... In the future," Aria nodded, a soft smile playing on her lips; "thank you, Alistair."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria heaved herself off the ground and stumbled back to her bedroll. While not eager to return to her dreams, she was still being affected by the serum. She noticed Alistair had returned to sitting beside the fire closest to her. As the serum fuelled fog crept over her, she found herself admiring the way the light from the fire softly accentuated his face./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""I think we should return to Lothering!" Aria announced to the camp at sunrise, "the victims deserve a proper burial."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Morrigan, Sten and Alistair stared at her, Aria was amazed at how they were all able to have the same stony faced yet really angry expression. While Aria had been sleeping off the serum Sten and Morrigan scouted the roads surrounding their camp, ensuring no darkspawn had followed them from Lothering. Unfortunately, quite a few had followed them and it had taken them until two hours ago to vanquish them all. Alistair had been on watch closer to the camp in case any darkspawn got past Morrigan and Sten, and he had watched over Aria who had been trapped in a night terror./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I agree that we should," Leliana spoke up and everyone turned to glare at her. She had been the only one, besides Aria, who had actually slept; "but I think we should wait until the darkspawn move on, yes? We barely made it out alive last time."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Fine," Aria conceded, she knew they had more pressing issues to attend to; "We will go to see the Arl of Redcliffe first, I suppose. He's closest, right?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Morrigan and Sten mumbled under their breath and stalked over to two bedrolls, falling into them asleep before their heads even hit the pillows. Alistair nodded and dragged himself over to his bedroll exhausted, promising to go after he had slept for at least four hours. Leliana and Aria looked at one another and shrugged then set about packing up the quieter items around the camp./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"It was late afternoon before the sleepers began to stir. Aria had borrowed Alistair's shield, hoping to use it as a mirror while she bathed. Leliana had agreed to keep the others away from the far side of the lake so Aria could both bathe and wash her clothes. She draped her newly cleaned robes over a low hanging branch to dry and laid her smallclothes over a clean enough rock out in the sun. The water had been warmed from the sun rays; Aria cupped the water in her hands and poured it over her face, wiping the dirt and muck away. She had propped the shield against the tree trunk and admired her reflection, ensuring no excess dirt had been left behind. Satisfied she submerged herself beneath the water, running her finger through her hair and massaging her scalp. Coming up for air Aria combed out the knots then wrung the water out of her hair; she splashed the water around and repeated the actions./p  
p class="MsoNormal"As she surfaced for a second time, her reflection in the shield caught her attention - something was on her back. She felt her heart clench in her chest and she instinctively swam in a circle to see it. Feeling foolish she turned her back to the shield, pulled her hair over one shoulder and craned her neck to see the reflection. Aria sucked in a breath - her reflection stared back at her - eyes wide and mouth slightly agape - a large lyrium burn sat in the centre of her back. Aria briefly wondered how she got the burn, suddenly recalling the ethereal sensation back in Lothering. Aria tentative reached around to touch it; the skin felt course and tight - as a scabbed burn wound would feel - but there was no pain. The voices of her companions claimed her attention and she hastily finished bathing./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria tied her hair back loosely as she helped pack up the camp. Leliana and Morrigan divided the gear into piles - Sten and Alistair carried the most followed by Leliana, Morrign and Aria. As soon as the others were bathed and ready, the group set out towards Redcliffe./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair listened to Leliana ask Aria questions about her life in the Circle, noticing that Aria's answers were vague at best. When Leliana asked if Aria had ever witnessed the Rite of Tranquility being performed, he noticed a subtle change in Aria; her shoulders curved inwards slightly and a flicker of something flashed across her face yet was quickly smothered by a furrowed brow and pursed lips. emWell that struck a nerve, /emhe thought. Aria quickly changed the subject, asking how far they were from Redcliffe. Alistair felt himself become curious by the unanswered question as he informed her that the village was very close./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Hey!" a young man sprinted down the road to the group, his clothes torn and dirtied. Sten drew his sword and the young man skidded to a halt out of his reach; "The village is in danger, we need help!"/p 


	6. Redcliffe Under Seige?

p class="MsoNormal""What kind of danger?" Alistair stepped forward, assuming control of the conversation./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Demons!" The young man skips back a few steps, waving his hands for them to follow, "Bann Teagan is in the Chantry, he can explain more."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The young man pivoted and ran back towards the town with Alistair. Leliana and Sten chased after Alistair while Morrigan and Aria lingered on the road./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You go ahead to the town, I'll try to see what manner of demon we are dealing with and catch up." Morrigan handed her staff to Aria and transformed, flying towards the town./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria lightly jogged towards the town. If the town was plagued by a demon then they would want nothing to do with her more over would be unfit to offer their aid in fighting the Blight. A group of knights stood by the windmill as she passed, chatting and watching the castle. She walked down the hillside path, Redcliffe village sat at the base of the hillside by the water. The town was small and shabby – houses supported on wooden walkways and pillars over Lake Calenhad – with a few people standing in the center of the town. She walked past two wooden barricades and entered the Chantry. The Chantry looked no better than the rest of the town, Aria felt sorry for the villagers. Townsfolk were cowering within the Chantry crying, mourning and scared./p  
p class="MsoNormal" Aria walked towards her group who had congregated near the altar. Aria walked along the carpet towards her companions. Her head held high, shoulders back in confidence. She did her best to ignore the staring, sneers and judgmental whispers of the townsfolk. Her heart constricted painfully within her chest, she had endured marches of shame before but walking towards the Chantry altar brought back unpleasant memories. Aria felt her heartbeat quicken as she approached her comrades./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Greetings my lady," the group split apart to make room for Aria. An older gentleman stood before her looking very tired. His brown hair was unkempt and pushed back out of his face, a small plait tucked behind his left ear; "My name is Teagan; Bann of Rainesfere and brother to the Arl."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Bann Teagan," Alistair bowed low; "I don't suppose you remember me? The last time we met, I was much younger and covered in mud." Aria looked at Alistair suspiciously, wondering how he knew a Bann./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Covered in... Alistair?" The Bann sounded surprised; "Makers Breath, you're alive?!" the group watched, slightly shocked, as Bann Teagan pulled Alistair into an embrace; "We had heard all Grey Wardens died along with my nephew at Ostagar."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""No, we made it out. I am so sorry for your loss, Bann Teagan." Alistair's bottom lip quivered slightly as he spoke; "This is Aria, she's -"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""A mage." Bann Teagan interrupted his voice despondent./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Also a Grey Warden," Alistair finished flatly./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Your village is being attacked by demons," Aria spoke up, ignoring his comments. She had anticipated their reactions; "Can we help at all?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""At night, strange ... things ... pour out of the castle and attack the village." Bann Teagan ushered them towards the exit, Leliana stayed behind to console a distraught young girl; "We have few in the way of fighters and as it is the village will not withstand another attack. Although, if you can speak to Murdock, the mayor of Redcliffe and Ser Perth - one of the Arl's knights - we may actually stand a chance tonight."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Leliana rejoined the group as Alistair and Bann Teagan stepped aside to speak privately. Leliana had discovered the young woman was distraught over the fact her brother was missing and it was close to nightfall./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Sten you have the most combat experience here, will you please go to Ser Perth and see what assistance he needs and perhaps create a strategy with him that will see us through the night? I saw a group of knights by the windmill near the edge of town, one of them may be him." Sten left for the hillside path./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Alistair, can you speak to the mayor when you're done? Thanks!" Alistair glanced at her and nodded, returning to his conversation with Bann Teagan./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Leliana and Aria jogged over to the houses, looking around the young boy. Leliana opened a door leading into an abandoned shop; she ventured in and looked around. Papers were strewn over the ground, scattered from winds coming through a hold in the wall; barrels of oil and creates of lanterns, broken vials and pillaged goods laying everywhere. Aria poked her head in stating the other houses in that area were empty./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They walked onto the next row and Leliana kicked in the door to the first house. The duo entered and looked around, like the others it was empty. As they turned to leave, they heard a scraping noise in another room. Leliana drew a dagger and tiptoed forwards, Aria stayed back by the door. Leliana looked back at Aria and she nodded, throwing the closet door open they came face to face with a young boy. He screamed and begged them not to hurt him. Leliana consoled the boy and Aria stepped behind the door frame, out of sight./p  
p class="MsoNormal"While Leliana sat with the young boy, Aria walked up a set of stairs into another bedroom. Like every other house it was empty but relatively intact. She turned to leave and the young boy had already left. Leliana went up the stairs and Aria waited by the front door. Leliana returned with a longsword. The blade was sharpened to perfection and almost sparkled; the hilt had a simplistic design with a few jewels embedded into it. The design was simple yet elegant./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They returned to the Chantry to find the young girl holding onto the young boy and sobbing hysterically. Aria noticed Alistair speaking to the mayor and went over to join him while Leliana spoke to the siblings./p  
p class="MsoNormal""But it's locked and he won't let anyone in!" Alistair stretched his fingers out to rub both temples with one hand; "Is there no one else?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""No, he is the only blacksmith. Without weapons and armor we are doomed." A burly man scratched his long, bushy mustache./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Where is he?" Aria stood beside Alistair, pointing the question at the mayor./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The mayor jerked his thumb in the direction of a house behind him. Aria walked over and knocked on the door./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Go away!" the blacksmith whined, Aria thought he sounded inebriated./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Open the door; these people need your help." Aria decided to start with the polite, diplomatic approach./p  
p class="MsoNormal""No! Why should I help them? None of them will help me." Something shattered inside and the blacksmith cursed./p  
p class="MsoNormal""If you don't open the door, I'll have to open it for you." Aria kept her voice light, hoping he wouldn't pick up on the subtle threat./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You wouldn't dare!" He did. Aria sighed./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria quickly looked behind her and stood close to the door handle, a light emitted from her hand and the door clicked. She smiled triumphantly at Alistair and opened the door. The blacksmith tossed one of his tools at the door; Aria hid behind the door as he pelted tools at her. When he was out of tools, she and Alistair entered his house./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Somebody's been drinking." Alistair stated in a sing-song voice./p  
p class="MsoNormal"His house smelled like a brewery and the blacksmith had an open bottle of ale in his hand and was tripping over himself. Aria noticed shards of glass around the room along with the thrown tools. Aria shut the door behind her and altered her telekinetic weapon spell, casting it at the tools. The blacksmith fumbled backwards, pinning himself against the wall as she levitated the tools around the anvil before levitating pieces of metal into a cast iron mold over the fire./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Wha – what're you doin'?" The blacksmith slurred at the mage./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Since you won't make weapons and armor for the townspeople, I will." Aria looked over at the blacksmith and made a point of looking him up and down; "not that you could."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Whaddaya mean?" The blacksmith dropped his bottle of ale and pushed himself off the wall. Aria turned away and smirked./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I mean you are emdrunk!/em" Aria emphasized his inebriation, "I doubt you can even see straight."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair and the blacksmith watched as Aria shot fire at the mold, speeding up the heating process. She moved the tongs into place and began to lift the mould out when the blacksmith grabbed her arm./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I can see straight." The blacksmith defended, "and I can make weapons and armor for the men." The blacksmith yanked the tongs away from the mould and pointed them at Aria's face; "But you, you will find my little girl for me. She's in the castle. Do this and they will have what they need."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria nodded and left the blacksmith to his work. She smiled at the mayor who was standing by the front door; he entered the blacksmith as they left. They saw Leliana making her way up the hillside path towards the setting sun./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Would you have really made weapons and armor for the town?" Alistair asked a hint of laughter in his voice./p  
p class="MsoNormal""For all the good it would have done. I don't know the first thing about smithing." Aria smiled cheekily at Alistair./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"A green mist descended upon the village of Redcliffe. Sten stood with Ser Perth and Aria, barking orders at the knights and militia alike. Alistair, Leliana and Morrigan stood with the rest of the men by Lake Calenhad to defend the Chantry. Aria told Sten and Ser Perth about the barrels of oil in the store and Ser Perth wasted no time in distributing it between the choke points. Morrigan could not find the demon responsible but determined that there was a large amount of undead roaming around the castle. Morrigan laced the oil with a poisonous substance and Leliana had rigged the barrels of oil at the choke points. Aria and Morrigan stood to the side ready to cast a flame spell to ignite the oil./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The green mist grew thick and heavy, Aria could barely make out her companions. The night was eerily quiet. Aria stood and waited for what felt like hours as the mist set in. The silence was broken by an explosion by Lake Calenhad as the first wave of undead emerged from the water. Aria looked around, wide eyed, looking for any sign of the undead but the mist was too thick. She felt the ethereal sensation radiate from her back as her magic manifested within her hands; she threw a fireball in the direction of the oil barrels. The oil exploded in a spectacular fashion, setting fire to a wave of undead. They screeched as their fire burnt their rotting flesh, Aria retched at the smell but weaved another fire spell, strengthening the wall of fire before her. She felt a weight on her back and she reached back to unclasp a staff. Spinning it around to get the feel for it and held it in front of her – the staff split apart neat the top, allowing the wood to circle around itself, joining around a focus crystal that sat in the center of the staff; the focus crystal was glowing softly, drawing her magic through the staff and storing it. Aria paled, she had seen that staff – used it – before./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She twirled the staff around above her, imagining a whirlwind forming around her staff. The green mist began to lift, being sucked into an invisible space her staff had created. Sten and the knights looked around bemused from the mist but quickly recovered. Ser Perth and his knights charged into the fray while Sten roared as he charged in behind the knights swinging his sword wide, cleaving and impaling the undead. Aria cast an enchantment on Sten, Ser Perth and the knights, making them immune to the fires then followed up with a magical enhancement for their weapons./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The ethereal sensation on her back tingled and spasmed, she whirled around and released a cone of cold on four undead. While they were frozen, Aria fled to another vantage point, climbing on top of several empty barrels. From there she saw another wave of undead coming down the hill towards the knights. She conjured a fireball within the focus crystal and shot it at the incoming undead. The fireball impacted vanquishing a bulk of the group. The rest thinned out and became easy pickings for the warriors waiting at the choke point. Aria relit the fire wall and started healing the knights that ran over to her during short reprieves between waves. /p  
p class="MsoNormal"After the fourth wave, Aria gulped down a lyrium potion, tossing the empty vial away. She felt her mana regenerating slowly even with the assistance of a lyrium potion. She was reaching her limit and needed to rest. Sten stood in the center of the choke point as Ser Perth ran over to her with one of the militia from the group below. They were faring badly and desperately needed her help. Aria stood slowly, her body aching from over exertion. She told the man to take her place and pick off as many undead as he could before they got to the warriors. The archer nodded and ascended the stack of barrels. Aria enchanted his arrows and ran down towards lake Calenhad./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair ripped his blade out of a skeleton's head. It had gotten too close to Morrigan who was busy trying to keep them at bay, so he did the only thing he could: he threw his sword at it. The sword whizzed past Morrigan's head and she had ducked instinctively./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Be careful, fool!" Morrigan spat at him, transforming into a bear and ripping into the undead./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Oh thank you for saving my life Alistair" Alistair said to himself, pretending to be Morrigan; "You're welcome Morrigan, might wanna get back. Don't want you dying or anything." Alistair responded sarcastically to himself. He shook his head and shield punched an undead in the face, it fell over and he sank his blade into its chest. Ripping his blade out once again, he turned his attention to the destroyed choke point./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The militia withdrew further back towards the Chantry, they were outnumbered and knew they were not going to last. As the undead began to advance upon them, a wall of fire erupted in front of them. The flames spewed from the ground catching several undead by surprise. They flailed and fell to their knees, a soft green glow noticeable before they fell face first into the dirt./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Regroup!" Alistair yelled at everyone, readying his sword and shield; "Archers! Aim for the glowing undead!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The first of the undead exploded, infecting the undead around it and the archers released their arrows. As the arrows sailed through the air, Morrigan cast a frost enchantment on them. The arrows embedded into the undead, freezing them on impact./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Now!" Alistair commanded. The warriors ran forward, striking at the frozen undead first. Leliana and two other rogues ran around killing any isolated undead./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria stabbed her staff into the ground and held her hands in front of her - left over right - pooling her magic in between her hands, creating a giant green glowing ball of magic. She focused as much of her magic as she could into the ball and tossed it into the air above the militia and her companions. She flicked her hands out to disperse the magic over those still alive. The healing energies seeped into their skin renewing muscle tissue, healing internal injuries, sewing wounds closed and rejuvenating the fighters./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Morrigan smiled at Aria and summoned an inferno over the choke point. Columns of fire raged, moving around at Morrigan's whim, burning any undead that were caught in its path. Aria felt her mana sputtering at her fingertips. She opened her pack to grab another lyrium potion but decided against it; She felt wrong. Her vision was slightly off, her head felt like it was broken and her chest burning furiously - a telltale sign of being dangerously close to overdosing on lyrium./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Morrigan pulled a lyrium potion from her pack and downed the contents. Closing her eyes tight and hissing as the lyrium took effect. Aria knew she was also close to overdosing on lyrium and the undead did not look as though they were quitting anytime soon./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria felt a strange tingling against her back, like the Fade wanted to lend her more magic. The ethereal sensation flared painfully along her spine. She gritted her teeth and grabbed her staff. The sensation shot through her spine again and she doubled over, preparing for pain but it never came; instead the sensation ran through her arms like a bolt of lightning. The focus crystal shone a brilliant yellow and suddenly Aria felt her spirit passing across the veil, like it did in Lothering and she felt renewed. She held the staff firmly in her left hand and drew magic from the focus crystal into the palm of her right hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal"emAim for the castle. The undead are a distraction. The true enemy has not yet shown itself./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Something within the Fade spoke to her spirit. She complied, holding her right hand up at the castle; the magic drawn from her staff bounced off her palm and flew towards Redcliffe castle. She wasn't sure she had hit anything until the undead fighting in front of her screeched in horror and fell to the ground. A bright flash of light emanated from the castle sending a wave of light across the land. Everyone covered their eyes and flinched as the light wave passed over them. Suddenly, the fight was over; dawn began to break over lake Calenhad and the undead lay on the ground. Their assault ended./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The villagers danced and cheered. Happy to have survived the hellish night. Aria stood by the windmill staring at the castle. The Revered Mother had given thanks to the Maker for lending them the strength to fight the demons, given thanks to the knights, to Alistair, Leliana and Sten for aiding the town. Morrigan had disappeared into the town to burn the bodies of the undead - making sure they stayed dead. Aria took the hint and left the festivities. She was a mage and no praise could be afforded to her. Not that she minded, she did not do it for recognition or thanks./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria shifted her weight from one foot to the other, squinting into the distance hoping to see what she had hit. She sighed, the castle was too far away. She gently caressed the lyrium burn on her back, she could feel that it had gotten bigger, stretching along part of her spine. Footsteps behind her indicated the festivities must have ended and the next step of the plan could commence. She turned to face Bann Teagan and her companions. br / /p  
p class="MsoNormal""You could almost think nothing was wrong." Bann Teagan stood beside her, admiring the view./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Just because it is fine on the outside, that does not mean all is well within." Aria crossed her arms and shifted her weight back onto her right leg./p  
p class="MsoNormal""True enough," Bann Teagan turned to her; "We need to get into the castle and make sure Eamon is safe. Will you help me?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria sighed, "I have little choice, we need allies and they need their leader."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Bann Teagan handed Aria his signet ring. He explained there was a hidden passage within the windmill but not all of them could get through unnoticed. Aria knew that meant he was going to stay behind while she went in to check on the Arl. Morrigan and Sten elected to stay behind, uninterested in offering further aid. Just as Bann Teagan began down the hillside path, a blonde woman ran towards them with a palace guard. The group watched as the blonde woman flung herself at the Bann./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Isolde!? What are you doing here? Are you alright? Is Eamon safe?" Bann Teagan held her at arm's length, asking as many questions as he could in the one breath./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Isolde seemed flustered, her face was puffy and her eyes were wet with unshed tears. The guard accompanying her told them all about what had transpired in the castle over the past three days. A mage had summoned a demon and it was killing people and bringing them back to attack the town, Arl Eamon had been poisoned and no one knows if he is dead or not. Aria wanted to laugh; another obstacle between her and allies./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm going back to the castle with Isolde," Bann Teagan pulled Aria aside and spoke softly, careful that no one else could hear them; "Get in there and save Eamon, the rest of us are expendable understand?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria nodded and watched as Teagan, Isolde and the guard returned to the castle. As soon as they were out of sight; Aria, Alistair and Leliana made their way to the hidden passageway in the windmill./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~*~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Leliana sank her blades into the last undead lurking in the cellar. Aria walked over to Alistair and placed her hand on his forehead to heal a gash. Alistair pulled his head away as soon as she was done and stalked off ahead. Leliana placed her hand on Aria's shoulder and squeezed gently. Aria smiled weakly at her and followed after Alistair./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria, Leliana and Alistair descended the narrow staircase into the hidden passageway. Cobwebs lingered in the corners, reminding Aria of the Towers basement. emRight about now Jowan would be complaining that we were running out of time, /emAria thought./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Help me, please!" Three undead were trying to attack someone in a cell, Aria froze and felt a bout of deja vu. Alistair and Leliana dispatched the undead while Aria stood there, hoping - praying - that she misheard that voice, that her mind was playing tricks on her; "Get me out of here, please! They left me here to die."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Jowan?" Aria gulped, her throat dry. She had not misheard./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The mage went silent as Aria walked towards his cell. When she came into view he summoned an arcane bolt and launched it at her; throwing her into the wall behind her. Aria hit the wall hard, her head smacked against both her staff and the wall, and she crumpled to the ground. Alistair ran over to her side and tried to help her up but she waved him off, standing up on her own and removing her staff./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You dare show your face to me, after what you did!" Jowan shot another arcane bolt at her. It connected with her chest, sending her flying into the wall again. Her staff rolled over to Leliana's feet; "To us! To Lily! We trusted you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He shot a third arcane bolt. Aria caught it this time, shooting it back at him. The arcane bolt rammed him into the wall./p  
p class="MsoNormal""What happened was more your fault than mine, Jowan." Aria walked over to his cage; "I wanted to help you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""You betrayed us!" Jowan spat./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You are a blood mage!" Aria accused. "What they did to Lily was emyour /emfault, Jowan. You used blood magic. You murdered those templars."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""As if you are so innocent." Jowan retorted venomously, "I dabbled, sure. But you - you've done far worse than me."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Before Aria could react, Alistair pulled her away from the cage and gently took her aside leaving Leliana alone with Jowan. Aria ripped her arm free from Alistair's grasp and walked over to the far corner of the next room; she folded her arms and rested her head on the cool cobblestone wall./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Alistair stayed in the doorway, giving Aria her space while listening in to the conversation between Leliana and Jowan. He was curious as to what Jowan meant, he wondered what Aria could have done that was worse than blood magic. Leliana deftly unlocked the cage and stood to the side; Jowan walked out and glared at the other room. Alistair stood in the doorway, scowling at the blood mage./p  
p class="MsoNormal""If what you say is true, I expect you to help us." Leliana unsheathed a dagger and pointed it at Jowan then flicked the tip in Alistair's direction./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I won't go with you, not while emshe/em is around." Jowan stood defiantly before Leliana; "but I will help you save the Arl and the young mage."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Jowan scurried towards the exit and Leliana returned to her companions. Without a word she took point and led them further into the castle./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The courtyard was barren. The grass had died, a solitary tree was rotten and half uprooted leaning left, threatening to collapse on the great stone steps that led into the palace. Leliana ran over to drawbridge and disappeared into one of the towers flanking the main gate. Seconds later the gate began to lift and Leliana ran across the courtyard to meet them./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria was halfway up the stone steps when undead leapt from the ramparts into the courtyard. Not wishing to waste any more time than necessary; Aria turned one of the undead into a walking bomb. Leliana thrust one dagger into its chest and used the other to decapitate the undead. She kicked it off her dagger hard, sending it reeling into the group of undead. It exploded with terrific force./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria had already opened the palace doors and entered the main hall by the time Leliana and Alistair had finished off the last undead. They caught up with her in a hallway, Aria was peeking around a corner watching Bann Teagan roll around and dance for the entertainment of a young boy./p  
p class="MsoNormal""The young boy is possessed," Aria whispered. Leliana gasped and Alistair clicked his teeth. "It knows we're here. Be ready."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Leliana sank into the walls behind her, lingering in the shadows as backup. Aria and Alistair walked out into the main hall as Bann Teagan completed his backwards somersault, holding his hands on his hips and striking a mock heroic pose. The young boy laughed, cheered and clapped and Alistair wondered if perhaps Aria could have been wrong./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria cleared her throat and the young boy stared at her, his eyes black and purple. Alistair cringed at the sight; she had not been wrong. Bann Teagan turned to her and stared with dead eyes. He was little more than the child's puppet./p  
p class="MsoNormal""So you are the demon the guard spoke of." Aria stared at the young boy, she could feel the Fade gushing from him./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Isolde burst into tears and begged Aria not to call him that. She screamed at the group that it was the mages fault. That he was the one who poisoned Eamon and brought forth the demon. That her son was innocent. The young boy looked at the guard, a deathly glare haunting his features. The guard sputtered and jarred as he tried to explain, waving his arms frantically before him. The young boy flicked his hand at the guard; the guards head spun to an unnatural angle and cracked. The body crumpled to the floor. Turning its attention back to Aria, the demon commanded then Bann to kill the intruders./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Bann Teagan unsheathed his sword and shield, lunging at Aria with reckless abandon. Aria drew her staff too late. Alistair had placed himself in front of Aria and engaged the deranged Bann. Aria returned her staff to her back and stayed away from the fight, the veil was too weak for her to cast. Leliana appeared behind the young boy with a dagger to his throat. She demanded the demon release its hostage or she would kill the child. The demon flung her away and blood trickled from a tiny cut on his neck./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The boy regained himself and saw the fighting, the dead guard and felt his blood seeping from the cut. Isolde fell to her knees and wept with joy as her son fled the room. Alistair apologized to the Bann before knocking him out cold./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Your son..." Aria walked over to Isolde, placing a hand on her shoulder./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Do not touch me!" Isolde slapped her hand away; "Your kind did this to her! It's your fault - all of you!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria healed the Bann's head to reawaken him. Teagan groaned and cupped his face. Aria healed his broken nose and apologised then removed herself from the room. She heard snippets of the conversation: blood magic, evil, mage prisoner, urn of sacred ashes. Aria walked out the castle when she overheard Isolde threaten to call the Templars./p  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Is it everything you thought it would be?" Morrigan sat on one of the stone steps, Sten lingered by the drawbridge; "Freedom." /p  
p class="MsoNormal""Yes? No. I did as I was told at Ostagar, helped the refugees at Lothering, saved Redcliffe village and as many villagers as I could and what do I have to show for it?" Aria sat beside Morrigan; " Almost killed by darkspawn, labelled a traitor, attacked by Templars, attacked by undead, scorned..."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Morrigan laughed at Aria, "welcome to our reality."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Aria leaned back against the stairs and sighed. emThis can't be the freedom I've dreamed about... Could it?/em/p 


End file.
